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UNIVERSITY
OF FLORIDA
LIBRARIES

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JOHN STUART MILL

AND

HARRIET TAYLOR

ERRATA

On the title page instead of Their Correspondence read Their

Friendship
On p. 25, line 14, instead of given as a frontispiece to read reproduced

opposite page 128 of
On p. 35, line 8, instead of form read from
On p. 60, line 16, instead of morally read morality
On p. 140, line 6, instead of his read this
On p. 218, line 26, instead of Avignon, read Avignon-
On p. 236, line 11, instead of of Antinous read or Antinous
On p. 240, line 19, instead of Molo read Molos
On p. 246, line 11, instead of clothers read clothes
On p. 249, line 23, instead of Galiagni s read Galignani's
On p. 264, lines 13 and 14, instead of malherreux read malheureux
On p. 266, line 21, instead of on opposite page read on the opposite

page
On p. 284, line i, insert is before given

On p. 294, line 4, instead of on typed envelope read on a typed enve-
lope
On p. 294, line 14, instead of at least, read at least as a note.
On p. 301, line 31, instead of Chateuroux read Chateauroux
On p. 311, line 6, instead of {1791-1892) read {1791-1862)

JOHN STUART MILL

AND

HARRIET TAYLOR

JOHN STUART MILL

AND

HARRIET TAYLOR

Their Correspondence
and Subsequent Marriage

F. A. HAYEK

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

[40.
1

M^s

a. ^

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 37

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London E.C.4., England

British Book Services (Canada) Ltd., Toronto, Canada

Great Britain

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS page O,

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED I I

INTRODUCTION 13

I. HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE (1830) 23

II. ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES (1830-1833) 36
III. ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE {about I 832) $J

iv. friends and gossip (1834-1842) 79

v. the years of friendship (1834.-1847) 91

vi. a joint production (1847-1849) 117

vii. john taylor's illness and death (1849) 152
viii. marriage and break with mill's family (1851) 165

IX. ILLNESS (1851-1854) l82

X. ITALY AND SICILY (1854-1855) 212

XI. GREECE (1855) 232

XII. LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL (1856-1858) 25I

APPENDICES

I. POEMS BY HARRIET TAYLOR 27I

II. AN EARLY ESSAY BY HARRIET TAYLOR 275

III. FAMILY TREES 280
NOTES 283
INDEX 315

Illustrations

A LETTER BY JOHN STUART MILL TO HARRIET TAYLOR,

c. 1834 between pages 92- 3

Facsimile of original in Tale University Library

Harriet taylor, c. I 834 facing page 128

Oil portrait in possession of the Author

HARRIET TAYLOR, C. I 844 I 29

Two Miniatures in the British Library of Political
and Economic Science

JOHN TAYLOR I44

Miniature in the British Library of Political and
Economic Science

JOHN STUART MILL, I 840 145

Medallion reproduced from 'The Letters of John
Stuart Mill\ ed. by H. S. R. Elliot

Acknowledgements

'HE originals of most of the letters and other documents repro-
duced in this volume are preserved in the Yale University
Library and in the British Library of Political and Economic
Science and my greatest obligation is to the Library Committees of
these two institutions for their permission to reproduce these docu-
ments which has made this volume possible. I am similarly indebted
to the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, who have
not only allowed me to use some letters bequeathed to them by the late
Lord Keynes but have also presented to the British Library of Political
and Economic Science a set of letters by Mrs. Mill when it was noticed
that at some earlier stage these had become accidentally detached from
a larger collection of similar documents now in the latter Library; to
the National Library of Scotland and to the Huntington Library in
Pasadena, California. The National Provincial Bank, Ltd. (as repre-
sentatives of the late Miss Mary Taylor), and Mr. Stuart Mill Colman
of Galmpton, Devonshire, have made substantial contributions to this
volume by presenting documents in their possession to the British
Library of Political and Economic Science; and Mrs. Hugh Gemmel
of East London, S.A., and Mrs. Vera Eichelbaum of Wellington, New
Zealand, have similarly assisted by their permission to reproduce or use
documents in their possession.

Of those who have helped in other ways I must in the first place
mention Professor Jacob Viner of Princeton University, who originally
drew my attention to the collection at Yale University Library. To
Professor Arthur H. Cole, Librarian of Harvard University, I am
under a special obligation for his help in procuring in war-time from
British Columbia, where it had strayed, the portrait of Harriet Taylor
reproduced facing page 128 of this volume. Mrs. Z. J. Powers,
Librarian of Historical Manuscripts of Yale University Library, and
Mr. W. Park and Mr. J. S. Ritchie of the Department of Manuscripts
of the National Library of Scotland have been good enough more than

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

once to supply copies or to check transcriptions when I was not able
myself to inspect documents in their care.

Finally I must mention Dr. Ruth Borchardt and Mrs. Dorothy
Hahn, who in different stages of the work on the collection of John
Stuart Mill's general correspondence have assisted me for long periods
and on the result of whose work I have been able to draw to a large
extent in preparing this volume. To all these as well as to the many
others who have more indirectly helped in its production I wish to
express my most sincere thanks.

Abbreviations and Symbols Used

J.S.M.: John Stuart Mill.

H.T. : Harriet Taylor (Mrs. John Taylor— until 1 85 1).

H.M.: Harriet Mill (Mrs. John Stuart Mill — from 1851).

MTColl.: Mill-Taylor Collection in the British Library of Political
and Economic Science (London School of Economics). The
references (e.g. XXVII/233) are to the volume and the number
of the item {not the folio), unless they refer expressly to one of the
boxes separately numbered in Roman numerals.

Letters (ed. Elliot) : The Letters of John Stuart Mill, edited with an
Introduction by Hugh S. R. Elliot, Two volumes, London,
1910.

Letter of T.C. to J.S.M.: Letters of Thomas Carlyle to John Stuart
Mi//, John Sterling and Robert Browning, edited by Alexander
Carlyle, London, 1910.

MacMinn, et a/., Bibliography : Bibliography of the Published Writings
of John Stuart Mill. Edited from his Manuscript with Correc-
tions and Notes by Ney MacMinn, J. R. Hainds and James
McNab McCrimmon. North-Western University, Evanston,
Illinois, 1945.

Autobiography: J. S. Mill, Autobiography . The page references are to
the 'World's Classics' edition (Oxford University Press), except
where they are expressly to the complete edition published in
1924 by Columbia University Press.

D.D.: J. S. Mill, Dissertations and Discussions, London, 1858, and
later.

[ ] Square brackets are used to indicate editorial insertions in the text

of documents.
[?] and [??] indicates a gap of one or more words.
(?) and (??) indicates that the reading of the preceding word or words is

doubtful.
. . . indicates omissions or parts missing from the manuscript.

Introduction

' I 'he literary portrait which in the Autobiography John Stuart
j Mill has drawn for us of the woman who ultimately became his
J\. wife creates a strong wish to know more about her. If Harriet
Taylor, to give her the name which she bore during the greater part of
her life, was anything like what Mill wished us to believe, we should
have to regard her as one of the most remarkable women who ever
lived. Even if merely her influence on Mill was as great as he asserts,
we should have to think of her as one of the major figures who shaped
opinion during the later Victorian era. Yet until now it has been
solely Mill's account on which we have had to rely in forming an
estimate; and the very extravagance of the language he employed in
her praise has generally produced more disbelief than conviction. It is
natural to dismiss as the product of an extraordinary if not singular
delusion a description which represents her as more a poet than Car-
lyle, more a thinker than Mill himself and as the only equal to his
father in 'the power of influencing by mere force of mind and character
the convictions and purposes of others and in the strenuous exertion of
that power to promote freedom and progress'.1 The best known version
of Mill's estimate of his wife's genius in the Autobiography is too long
to be quoted in full, and it would probably be unnecessary to do so. A
few sentences will recall the general tone of a description which
extends over many pages:2

'In general spiritual characteristics, as well as in temperament and
organization, I have often compared her, as she was at this time, to
Shelley: but in thought and intellect, Shelley, so far as his powers were
developed in his short life, was but a child compared with what she
ultimately became. Alike in the highest regions of speculation and in
the smaller practical concerns of daily life, her mind was the same per-
fect instrument, piercing to the very heart and marrow of the matter;

INTRODUCTION

always seizing the essential idea or principle. The same exactness and
rapidity of operation, pervading as it did her sensitive as her mental
faculties, would, with her gifts of feeling and imagination, have fitted
her to be a consummate artist, as her fiery and tender soul and her
vigorous eloquence would certainly have made her a great orator, and
her profound knowledge of human nature and discernment and
sagacity in practical life, would, in times when such a carriere was
open to women, have made her eminent among the rulers of mankind.
Her intellectual gifts did but minister to a moral character at once the
noblest and the best balanced which I have ever met with in life. Her
unselfishness was not that of a taught system of duties, but of a heart
which thoroughly identified itself with the feelings of others, and often
went to excess in consideration for them by imaginatively investing
their feelings with the intensity of its own.'

Though this fullest expression of his feelings did not appear until the
posthumous Autobiography, Mill had not hesitated to announce them
earlier in similar tones. The prefaces to On Liberty and to the reprint
of the article on 'The Enfranchisement of Women' in Dissertations
and Discussions, both published shortly after her death, are in a similar
strain. A few sentences from the latter may also be quoted:3

'All that excites admiration when found separately in others, seemed
brought together in her: a conscience at once healthy and tender; a
generosity, bounded only by a sense of justice which often forgot its
own claims, but never those of others; a heart so large and loving, that
whoever was capable of making the smallest return of sympathy, always
received tenfold; and in the intellectual department, a vigour and truth
of imagination, a delicacy of perception, an accuracy and nicety of
observation, only equalled by her profundity of speculative thought,
and by a practical judgment and discernment next to infallible.'

But it was not only in the anguish and grief over her loss that Mill
expressed himself in such terms. He used similar language to others
and, as we shall see, to her before they were married, and in the
Dedication of his Principles of Political Economy had expressed his
admiration in print, though confined to a limited number of copies,
while her first husband was still alive.

Was all this sheer delusion? Some of Mill's friends evidently thought
so and their views, especially Carlyle's, have largely determined the

INTRODUCTION

opinions of later generations. Yet even if it had been nothing more it
would not only present us with a curious psychological puzzle, but also
leave open the question how far Mill's ideas, and especially his changes
of opinion at a critical juncture of European thought, may have
been due to this delusion. Yet it is not altogether easy to accept the
view that so eminently sober, balanced and disciplined a mind, and a
man who chose his words as deliberately and carefully as Mill, should
have had no foundation for what he must have known to be unique
claims on behalf of any human being. Before one accepts that view and
all that it implies for our judgment of the man and of the Autobiography,
one would like some independent evidence. Apart from Mill none of
those who expressed views about Harriet Taylor's qualities have really
had much grounds on which to base them, except W. J. Fox, whose
is also the only other voice that joins in her praise.4

Mill himself, however, on one occasion, has emphatically denied
that a proper memoir of his wife could be written. In a letter sent in
1870 to Paulina Wright Davies, the American champion of women's
rights, he wrote:

'Were it possible in a memoir to have the formation and growth of
a mind like hers portrayed, to do so would be as valuable a benefit to
mankind as was ever conferred by a biography. But such a psychological
history is seldom possible, and in her case the materials for it do not
exist. All that could be furnished is her birth-place, parentage, and a
few dates, and it seems to me that her memory is more honoured by
the absence of any attempt at a biographical notice than by the presence
of a most meagre one. What she was, I have attempted, though most
inadequately, to delineate in the remarks prefaced to her essay, as
reprinted with my "Dissertations and Discussions".'5

We have of course even less information about Mrs. Taylor now
than was in Mill's possession, and if our main aim were to reconstruct
a full-scale picture of her person that task would indeed be impossible.
It is little that we can do to give life to the improbable picture of
a paragon of all excellencies which he has drawn for us. But though we
may not be able to do justice to her, and though we may not be able
to learn much about her person, we must welcome all independent
evidence on the character of their relation and the nature of her in-
fluence on his work. Mill has given us his picture of this connexion as
it appeared to him and he was perhaps entitled to feel that he had

INTRODUCTION

nothing to add to it. This does not mean that there may not be material
which is of interest to us because of the light it throws on that picture.

Whether the existence of an autobiography always means that we
know its author better than we would without it is a question on which
different opinions are possible. No doubt almost any autobiography
tells us much that without it we should never know. A self-portrait as
candid and patently truthful as Mill's enables us to see some aspects of
his person as is possible with few other figures of the past. Yet in some
respects the existence of an autobiography may be the cause of our
knowing less about its subject. The more successful it is the more it is
apt to discourage biographical studies by others. It certainly makes us
see the author more as he saw himself, often looking back from old
age, than as he appeared to his contemporaries. Even where there was
no intention to mislead, as there certainly was not in the case of Mill,
the impression conveyed may be very one-sided. What seems most
important to the man himself need not appear so to others, and what
he has left out may be as characteristic of him as what he has included.

All this is in a high degree true of John Stuart Mill's Autobiography.
It is probably the one among his works which will live longest, through
which he has already exercised the greatest influence, and which is
likely to determine his permanent place in the history of ideas. It may
well prove that his purely scientific achievements, his Logic and his
Political Economy, will occupy more modest places in that history than
seemed probable to his contemporaries, and that even On Liberty and
his other contributions to political philosophy will represent a more
rapidly passing phase of thought than they would have thought possible.
But even if in the final estimate Mill should not be ranked as an
original thinker of the first order, I believe that his reputation will
emerge from its present eclipse; he will again be recognized as one of
the really great figures of his period, a great moral figure perhaps more
than a great thinker, and one in whom even his purely intellectual
achievements are mainly due to his profound conviction of the supreme
moral value of unrelenting intellectual effort. Not by temperament but
out of a deeply ingrained sense that this was his duty did Mill grow
to be the 'Saint of Rationalism', as Gladstone once so justly described
him.

INTRODUCTION

There is thus perhaps no other instance where an autobiography had
so much to tell us and where at the same time such a purely intellectual
account of a man's development is so misleading. The Autobiography
is as remarkable for what it leaves out as for what it discusses — what
it leaves out not in any desire to suppress but because Mill thought it
genuinely irrelevant. It is one of the most impersonal accounts of a
mental development ever attempted, an account in which only the
factors found a place that in Mill's view ought to have influenced it.
Of what in the ordinary sense of the word we should call his life, of his
human interests and personal relations, we learn practically nothing.
Even the account of 'the most valuable friendship of his life' is scarcely
an exception to this; the feeling of incongruity which this account of
Mill's greatest experience conveys is not least due to its being repre-
sented as a purely intellectual experience. It would certainly be a
mistake to believe that Mill really was like that, that what he regarded
as deserving of a public record gives us a picture of the whole man.
It is even doubtful whether we can fully appreciate the significance or
the lesson of the Autobiography until we know much more of the
very human being whose strongest beliefs have led him thus to depict
himself.

If, however, the existence of the Autobiography increases rather
than lessens the need for an adequate biography, it is no accident that
three-quarters of a century after Mill's death no such work exists.
Without additional knowledge on what, according to his own account,
was the decisive factor in his life, such a biography could not be
written. It is not the only but the most important point on which the
essential material for such a biography was wanting.

The present volume is no more than an attempt to fill this particular
gap — material for a future biography rather than an attempt at an
appreciation. But since, for reasons immediately to be explained, I have
in the book itself refrained from any interpretation or estimate of this
new material, I may perhaps here express the conclusions I have
formed on the significance of Harriet Taylor in Mill's life. They are,
that her influence on his thought and outlook, whatever her capacities
may have been, were quite as great as Mill asserts, but that they acted
in a way somewhat different from what is commonly believed. Far
from it having been the sentimental it was the rationalist element in
Mill's thought which was mainly strengthened by her influence. I
know of only one study, a little known essay by the Swedish writer

j.s.m. 17 B

INTRODUCTION

Knut Hagberg, which has correctly seen the nature of this influence
as it now reveals itself.

'It is obvious', writes Hagberg, 'that it was this woman who made
him into a Radical rationalist. She has given the impress of her person-
ality to all his greater works; to all her opinions Mill has given the
form of philosophic maxims. But even in his most arid reflexions on
woman's similarity with man and on the nature of Logic, Mill is in
reality a romantic.'6

Ill

The present book is the outcome of work originally undertaken
without any such design. It grew unexpectedly out of an effort to
bring together Mill's correspondence during the earlier part of his life,
which had never been systematically collected. A considerable number
of these letters have been assembled and are waiting to be edited and
published. In the course of this work the material now presented has
come to light and it soon became clear that it would not fit into the
contemplated edition of Mill's professional correspondence. These
private letters clearly demanded a treatment different from the simple
chronological presentation with a few explanatory footnotes which
would suffice for his more formal letters. To be intelligible most of
them require much more knowledge of the circumstances in which
they were written. Those letters of Harriet Taylor to Mill which
have been preserved, and certain other pieces of family correspondence,
were clearly of as much interest in this connexion as Mill's own. On
the other hand, a considerable part of their correspondence, belonging
to the period following their marriage and dealing with purely domestic
matters, is hardly of sufficient interest to justify publication. Neither
their maids' meat consumption, nor their neighbour's rats, nor all the
voluminous reports about the momentary state of their health are
suitable for printing. Some selection thus became imperative. Finally,
much of this correspondence belongs to the period after 1848, which is
so fully represented in H. S. R. Elliot's edition of The Letters of John
Stuart Mill (19 10) that a new collection of Mill's general correspond-
ence for this period is not called for.

It soon appeared that the most satisfactory solution of these problems
would be to take the private letters out from the general corres-
pondence and to combine them with certain other material in a volume

INTRODUCTION

of a somewhat different character. There was some temptation to go
beyond such a mere presentation of the documents, and to use them
instead as the foundation for a book about Mill and Harriet Taylor. I
have deliberately refrained from attempting this. To some readers this
volume will therefore appear as the material for a book rather than the
finished product. The justification for presenting the documents in
this fashion is that they could provide the material for several different
books which might be written around them; thus any attempt at
interpretation would almost inevitably have interfered with the im-
partial presentation of the documents. Not all the fragments which
accident has preserved can be made to fit into one coherent story which
at the same time they are sufficient to justify. Yet any selection guided
by an interpretation would have been likely to omit documents which
from a different point of view might prove significant.

I have therefore endeavoured to reproduce for the first eighteen
years of Mill's friendship with Harriet Taylor, for which the material
is scanty, practically every available scrap of correspondence which I
have been able to date with any degree of confidence. To this I have
added whatever other contemporary material throws light on these
letters, including a collection of the comments of their friends and
acquaintances. Most of the latter have already appeared in print and
the picture of the relationship now generally held is mainly derived
from them.

For the period from 1 849 onwards we possess one continuous set of
notes of Harriet Taylor to Mill and two long and several shorter
series of letters by Mill written to his wife after their marriage in 1 85 1 .
Of these only selected passages are reproduced. Any selection of this
sort is bound to be arbitrary in some measure and at least Mill's
accounts of his journeys might deserve to be printed at greater length
in a different context. If that part of the volume was not to grow to
disproportionate size, however, only a few samples of his descriptions
of his travels could be included, to secure space for passages which bear
more directly on the interests which he shared with his wife.

A few words should be said here about the method of transcription
and the principles of editing which have been followed. Full observa-
tion of the strictest canons of literary editorship would in this case have
unduly impaired readability. The character of the manuscripts, many
of them hastily written informal notes, and certain habits of both Mill
and Mrs. Taylor, made some editorial emendations indispensable if

INTRODUCTION

the printed text was to be read with ease. If every possible doubt about
the correct reading of a word, or every punctuation sign which had to
be inserted, had been indicated, the text would have been intolerably
encumbered. Where, as is true of most of their letters, the same kind
of mark, which might be a full stop, a comma, or a hyphen, is made
to serve for all three, where punctuation is often altogether absent
(Mill practically always omitted punctuation signs at the end of a line),
or its need indicated only by the spacing of the words, and where
capital letters are employed in the most haphazard manner, it would
have been merely irritating if every full stop inserted had been enclosed
in square brackets or every other sign of punctuation queried as possibly
intended for something else. A reasonable compromise between faith-
fully reproducing the general character of the manuscripts and achiev-
ing easy readability was necessary. Where there could be no real doubt
about the meaning I have not hesitated to make the needed correc-
tions without at the same time eliminating those peculiarities and
idiosyncrasies which did not affect the readability. Where the spelling,
grammar, or punctuation is unusual the reader may therefore assume
that it follows the manuscript, even though no isic' or exclamation
mark draws special attention to these peculiarities and though in other
places similar defects have been tacitly corrected.

It remains to give a brief account of the sources of the material
which is here presented. Most of it derives from Mill's own papers,
which were left by him to his stepdaughter Helen Taylor, who
jealously guarded them during her life. A full account of the later fate
and ultimate dispersal of these documents will have to be given in the
edition of Mill's general correspondence, and for the present a brief
sketch may suffice. Some of the papers were probably destroyed and
others dispersed when in 1905 Helen Taylor gave up the cottage at
Avignon where Mill had spent the greater part of the last fifteen years
of his life, and, after he had left the house at Blackheath Park, pre-
sumably kept most of his documents. Parts of the contents of the
cottage were then hurriedly disposed of by some friends. 7 Most of
Mill's papers were however preserved and shipped to England and on
Helen Taylor's death in 1907 passed to her niece Mary Taylor. It was
while the papers were in the latter's possession that Mr. H. S. R. Elliot

INTRODUCTION

was given an opportunity to prepare, mainly from the drafts of his
letters which Mill kept from about 1848 onwards, the two-volume
edition of the Letters of John Stuart Mill published in 19 10. But
although Elliot was allowed to see, he was not permitted to print any
of Mill's intimate letters, which Mary Taylor reserved for publication
by herself at a later date.8 This intention, to which she repeatedly
referred, was never carried out. Shortly before her death in November
1 9 1 8 she was corresponding with a literary agent about a volume of
such letters9 which seems to have existed in typescript and which prob-
ably contained most of the material in the present volume and perhaps
also other documents which have since been lost. It has not been
possible to trace this typescript and since the offices of the literary
agency as well as those of the publisher who had been approached, of
Mary Taylor's solicitors, and the depository where her executors kept
some of the papers concerning her, were destroyed by fire during the
London 'Blitz' in December 1940, there is little likelihood that it has
survived.

Excepting only some, the more intimate family letters, the whole of
the Mill documents which had been in Mary Taylor's possession were
sold, at the instruction of her executors, at two auctions at Messrs.
Sotheby's of London, on 29 March 1922 and 27 July 1927. Almost
all the items were bought in the first instance by various booksellers
but, excepting only a few pieces which probably went to private
collectors, seem sooner or later to have found a permanent resting-place
in one or another of a number of University Libraries in Great Britain
and the United States. Major parts of the collection are now at the
Libraries of the London School of Economics, Leeds University, Johns
Hopkins University, Yale University, and North-Western University.
Of these the 'Mill-Taylor Collection' of the British Library of
Political and Economic Science (as the Library of the London School
of Economics is correctly described) is much the largest, and in the
course of the work on Mill's correspondence it has been possible to
acquire for it a good deal of additional material, deriving from the same
and from other sources, including the family letters retained by Mary
Taylor's executors at the time of the sales, and a number of letters
preserved by the descendants of some of Mill's relatives and of some of
his other correspondents. But, although the London collection is prob-
ably the richest so far as Mill's general correspondence is concerned, the
smaller collection at Yale University Library has made the greatest

INTRODUCTION

contribution to the present volume. Almost all of Mill's letters to his
wife which have been preserved and the most important of his letters
to W. J. Fox are in that collection. Other Libraries have of course also
contributed and a full list of these will be found above under Acknow-
ledgements and in the notes giving the whereabouts of the individual
letters.

Chapter One

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER
CIRCLE

1830

ohn stuart mill probably met Harriet Taylor for the first
time in the summer or early autumn of 1830 when she was still
$JJ in her twenty-third year but already married for more than four
years and the mother of two sons.1 The special register, kept at the
time for the voluntary use of Dissenters at Dr. Williams' Library,
records on 10 October 1807, the birth at No. 18, Beckford Row,
Walworth, in the South of London, of Harriet, daughter of Thomas
Hardy, 'surgeon and man-midwife'. Her granddaughter Mary Taylor
states2 that the Hardys had for some centuries been lords of the manor
of Birksgate, near Kirkburton, where Thomas Hardy lived in retire-
ment for the last ten years or so of his life before he died in 1849. If
this is more than an unfounded affectation of gentility he was probably
a younger son who early went to London to take up a profession. He
appears at any rate to have practised at Walworth for many years since
at least 1 803, and even earlier to have married the daughter of a citizen
of Walworth; other members of the Hardy family also seem to have
lived in London. Thomas Hardy's practice apparently was sufficiently
lucrative to enable him to give his numerous children a fairly good
education. Occasional glimpses of him which we get in the family
letters do not show him as an altogether amiable character. The im-
pression they leave is of a somewhat domineering and difficult person,
and since at least in later life Harriet Taylor's relations to her parents
were not too cordial, the tradition that it was an unhappy home which
drove her into an early marriage is at least credible.

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

John Taylor, to whom she was married on 14 March 1826, only
five months after her eighteenth birthday, was eleven years her senior.
He was a junior partner of David Taylor & Sons, a firm of wholesale
druggists or 'drysalters' that had been carrying on a prosperous business
in the City for at least fifty years. The firm had long been established
in Finsbury Square and the adjoining Cross Street, and had already
been conducted there by John Taylor's grandfather, that 'fine speci-
men of the old Scotch Puritan; stern, severe, and powerful, but very
kind to children, on whom such men make a lasting impression',3 who,
as Mill tells us, had lived in his childhood in the next house to James
Mill's at Newington Green and had sometimes invited young John to
play in his garden. At least three of the sons of this old man, David,
George and John Taylor, succeeded him in the firm, and by the time
his grandson, John the younger, married, 'uncle David' appears to have
been the senior partner and to have remained in that position during
his nephew's life.

What we know about John Taylor on the whole tends to support
the description of him given in the Autobiography, 'a most upright,
brave, honourable man, but without the intellectual or artistic tastes
which would have made him a companion' for his wife. Carlyle's
characterization of him as 'an innocent dull good man',4 though per-
haps less fair, is probably also not quite wrong. But if John Taylor was
above all a prosperous business man who enjoyed the good things of
life, his interests extended beyond this limited sphere. He devoted a
good deal of time to the management of the finances of the Unitarian
congregation to which the Taylors as well as the Hardys belonged, and
conducted the occasionally difficult negotiation with its strong-willed
minister, William Johnson Fox. As a convinced radical he took an
active interest in politics; there is also some evidence that on behalf
of the Unitarians he concerned himself with the affairs of the new
University of London.5 In 1836 we find him among the original
members of the Reform Club, which suggests that he was regarded
as one of the more important radical business men. He also seems to
have made a special point of looking after the interests of the numerous
political exiles from France and Italy who had arrived in London.

For the first five years after their marriage John Taylor and his
wife lived in the City in a house at 4, Christopher Street, Finsbury
Circus, in close vicinity both to the firm and W. J. Fox's new chapel
at South Place. Their first son, Herbert, was born there on

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

24 September 1827, and a second son, Algernon, invariably called
Haji, followed on 2 February 1830. The third and last child, Helen
(usually called Lily), was born on 27 July 1831. One or two surviving
letters exchanged between husband and wife during the first few years
of their married life show Mrs. Taylor as a devoted young wife
and happy mother.6 But there is no reason to doubt that a certain
disparity of tastes made itself felt long before her friendship with
Mill began.

The only description of Harriet Taylor's appearance at that time
comes from W. J. Fox's daughter, who, if she really refers as she says
to about 1 83 1, would then have been a small girl of about seven. As
it mentions Mrs. Taylor's age as about twenty-five, it probably dates
from two or perhaps even more years later and is practically con-
temptoraneous with the portrait given as a frontispiece to this volume
which it singularly well confirms:

'Mrs. Taylor at this date, when she was, perhaps about five and
twenty years of age, was possessed of a beauty and grace quite unique
of their kind. Tall and slight, with a slightly drooping figure, the move-
ments of undulating grace. A small head, a swan-like throat, and a
complexion like a pearl. Large dark eyes, not soft or sleepy, but with
a look of quiet command in them. A low sweet voice with very distinct
utterance emphasized the effect of her engrossing personality. Her
children idolized her.'7

This delicate frame evidently harboured very strong convictions and
emotions which during these early years however were still seeking an
outlet and adequate means of expression. It is probable that from an
early stage her character and outlook had been shaped by a violent
revolt against the social conventions which not only, at the time of life
when she did not comprehend what it meant, had placed her in per-
manent dependence on a man whom she regarded as her inferior in
intellect and general culture, but which also excluded her from almost
all those activities for which she regarded herself fit. There is almost
certainly an autobiographical element in a passage of one of her early
literary efforts in which she complains that 'in the present system of
habits and opinions, girls enter into what is called a contract perfectly
ignorant of the conditions of it, and that they should be so is considered
absolutely essential to their fitness for it!'8 But if the conditions of
women, their education and their position in marriage were at the time

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

Mrs. Taylor's main concern and probably the starting point of her
other reflections, they were by no means the limit of her rationalist
revolt against the tyranny of public opinion.

What we know about her views and interests during these early
years must be derived from a sheaf of notes and drafts which seem to
belong mostly to the time just before or soon after she met Mill, but
none of which can be dated with any certainty. There is no clear
evidence that she attempted any prose composition before she met Mill
or before, soon afterwards, she began to contribute to Fox's Monthly
Repository. But the variety of drafts and scraps on the position of
women, on education and various social usages and conventions, which
date from about the same period, suggest that these problems must have
been occupying her for some time. The most interesting of these essays,
which in parts curiously anticipates some of the arguments of On
Liberty ', is reprinted as Appendix II to the present volume.

Mrs. Taylor had however tried her hand at poetry for some time
before 1830. The six poems of hers that have been preserved, three of
them printed in the Monthly Repository, are of unequal quality. They
suggest the inspiration of Shelley and the best show some real poetic
gift, though in execution they are probably not much superior to the
production of many young women of her time. Two of her published
and one of her unpublished poems are also printed in Appendix I.

The only members of Mrs. Taylor's circle of whom we can form
a distinct picture, and probably the only ones who mattered in con-
nexion with Mill, were William Johnson Fox and the two remarkable
young women with whom he had become closely associated only a
short time before : Eliza and Sarah Flower. In 1830 Fox was a man
of forty-four and at the height of his fame as a Unitarian preacher but,
as editor of the Monthly Repository since 1 827, already at the beginning
of a transition to an even more influential position as a radical journalist
and politician. He had risen from a small farmer's son, and later a
weaver's boy and bank clerk in Norwich, to be a considerable public
figure mainly through that eloquence which in later years made him
famous as one of the most powerful orators of the Anti-Corn-Law
League. At the time he was however still one of the leading figures of
the Unitarian Association, but this connexion soon became looser, and
in later years, though he continued to preach at South Place Chapel, it
was more as a precursor of the Ethical Movement of his successor
Moncure Conway than as the representative of any Christian

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

denomination. The alienation from the more strict body of Unitarians
was partly the result of his connexion with Eliza Flower.

Fox was unhappily married and had been brought in close contact
with the two beautiful and highly gifted sisters when on the death of
their father in 1829 he had become their trustee. Aged twenty-seven
and twenty-five respectively in 1830, and thus only slightly older than
Mill and Harriet Taylor, Eliza and Sarah Flower must have been
fascinating persons. Eliza was a composer of some distinction and Sarah
wrote poetry of merit and is to-day remembered as the author of the
hymn 'Nearer, my God, to Thee'. After the early death of their
mother they had been educated solely by their father and had developed
their natural gifts without systematic training or much discipline of any
sort. There can be little doubt that it was Eliza Flower to whom Mill
refers in the Autobiography when he speaks of Mrs. Taylor's 'life of
inward meditation, varied by familiar intercourse with a small circle of
friends of whom one only (long since deceased) was a person of genius
or of capacities of feeling or intellect kindred with her own.'9 A series
of informal notes by Eliza Flower to Mrs. Taylor which have sur-
vived10 show that for some years in the early 'thirties the two women
were fairly intimate and that the fragile and somewhat unstable Eliza
Flower was rather looking up to the younger but more self-possessed
and more happily circumstanced married woman. Known as 'Ariel' in
her intimate circle, Eliza Flower seems indeed to have had in her
something of that ethereal spirit. Fox's biographer describes her as

'Emphatically a child of nature, open and transparent as the day. She
worshipped Mozart, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Byron, but if these
had never existed, Eliza Flower would still have been Eliza Flower.
While this independence and spontaneity gave an indescribable charm
to her character, they were not wholly favourable to her in the world
of Art. Music came so naturally to her that she never realized the
importance of strenuous study, and such a professional training as,
indeed, it would probably have been beyond her means to procure.'11

Eliza Flower became Fox's closest friend, devoting all her energies to
assist him in his literary work, and after his separation from his wife
in 1835 came to superintend his household, inevitably causing scanda-
lous talk which for a time made Fox's position in the congregation
difficult. This may also have been one of the reasons which made it
appear inadvisable for Mrs. Taylor to maintain the connexion when

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

her own position came under similar criticism, although Eliza Flower's
increasing eccentricity probably also made the two women gradually
drift apart.

In her way the younger sister, Sarah Flower, seems to have been
no less remarkable a person and by her marriage in 1834 to William
Bridges Adams brought another strong personality into the closer
circle of friends in which Mrs. Taylor and Mill moved. W. B. Adams,
who had been married before to a daughter of Francis Place, was then
mainly active as a radical writer and for several years was one of the
most frequent contributors to the Monthly Repository. He later became
a successful carriage manufacturer and eminent railway engineer. For
some time he seems to have been on cordial terms with Mill, who took
great trouble to draw attention to a book, The Producing Man's
Companion, which Adams had published under the pseudonym of
'Junius Redivivus'.12

Around this inner group there gathered in the early eighteen-
thirties a number of minor literary and artistic figures, mostly con-
tributors to the Monthly Repository and including a considerable
number of women. For some time Harriet Martineau, then at the
very beginning of her literary career, was among Fox's most regular
contributors. Two other gifted sisters, Margaret Gillies, the miniature
painter, and Mary Gillies, the novelist, also appear to have belonged
to the somewhat unconventional and strongly feminist group of
whose members Leigh Hunt has drawn a picture in his Bluestocking
Revels.13

The Monthly Repository itself during Fox's editorship, especially
after he had purchased it in 1831 and largely divorced it from its pre-
dominantly Unitarian character, was an organ of very considerable
distinction and influence both in its political and literary department.14
Some of the articles, especially Crabb Robinson's series on Goethe, are
landmarks of the literary history of the period. But the feature which
distinguished it from the other radical periodicals of the time and
which, while it alienated its Unitarian supporters, must have made it
particularly congenial to Harriet Taylor, was its strong feminist bias.
Both W. J. Fox, whose views on divorce show a Miltonian strain, and
W. B. Adams wrote in it extensively on the subject, and their argu-
ments often so closely resemble some of Mrs. Taylor's manuscript
drafts of the period that one wonders whether it was merely that she
imbibed her ideas from them or whether her somewhat unpolished

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

drafts did not perhaps serve as the basis for the articles of the more
skilled writers.

It is probable that John Stuart Mill was in close contact with Fox's
circle for some time before he met Mrs. Taylor. It has even been said
that he was supposed at one time an aspirant for Eliza Flower's hand.15
There existed many connexions between the group of the Utilitarians
and Fox's Unitarian congregation, which included such immediate
disciples of Jeremy Bentham as Dr. John Bowring and Dr. South-
wood Smith; Fox himself in 1826 had contributed to the first number
of the Westminster Review.

The impressions we derive from the Autobiography are rather mis-
leading when we try to form a picture of John Stuart Mill at the age
of twenty-four when he was introduced to Mrs. Taylor. That work
conveys to us mainly, on the one hand, an image of the object of that
extraordinary educational experiment which is its main theme, and on
the other, of the author when he wrote it in late middle age. But the
Mill of the intermediate period who concerns us here was in many ways
a very different person from either. He was no longer simply the
creation of his father, the perfectly constructed intellectual instrument
zealously serving the cause for which his father had designed him. That
period had ended with the 'crisis in his mental development' which
occurred in his twentieth year. Nor was he yet the austere, secluded
and severe philosopher he became soon after the age of thirty. Even in
appearance we must imagine him very different from the familiar
picture which we derive mainly from Watt's portrait painted in the last
year of his life or from the photographs of not much earlier date. Long
before then ill health, overwork and constant nervous strain had pre-
maturely made him look old. No early portrait of Mill as a young man
exists and we must try to reconstruct his appearance from the few
descriptions by contemporaries.

Carlyle, first meeting him in 1831, described him as 'a slender,
rather tall and elegant youth, with a small clear Roman-nosed face,
two small earnestly-smiling eyes; modest, remarkably gifted with pre-
cision of utterance, enthusiastic, yet lucid, calm; not a great, yet a
distinctly gifted and amiable youth'.16 Much later he remembered him
as 'an innocent young creature, with rich auburn hair and gentle
pathetic expression, beautiful to contemplate'.17 The earliest portrait
which has been preserved, the medallion reproduced here, is also of a
later date. It would appear to represent him in his late thirties and is

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

probably identical with the portrait done by a certain Cunningham
in Falmouth in 1 840 which Caroline Fox describes as 'quite an ideal
head, so expanded with patient thought, and a face of such exquisite
refinement'.18 But by then Mill had already passed through his first
bout of severe illness, lost most of his hair and acquired that nervous
twitch over his eyes which he retained during the remainder of his life.
If, however, after his thirtieth year Mill was permanently handicapped
by ill health, and though he may even never have fully recovered from
the nervous breakdown of ten years before, he appears to have been
naturally endowed with a splendid constitution, which enabled him
not only to overcome these handicaps but to continue to perform an
amount of work and to remain even during acute illness capable of an
amount of physical exertion which sometimes seem scarcely credible.
The story of his education is too well known to need retelling even
in outline. On the basis of the full account of this education which we
possess, he has, in a recent study of child geniuses,19 been awarded the
highest intelligence quotient of all recorded instances of specially
precocious children; but, as the author of that study rightly suggests,
this may well be merely the result of our knowing so much more about
Mill's childhood performances than about those of most others. Indeed,
astounding as the speed is with which he passed as a child through a
course of education which normally lasts into early manhood, and
amazing as are his powers of retention and the discipline of orderly
thought and exposition which he acquired, there is little sign of origin-
ality or creative powers in his early years. His own modest estimate of
his innate capacities indeed may be nearer the truth. In the Auto-
biography he represents his father's educational experiment as con-
clusive precisely because in

'natural gifts I am rather below than above par; what I could do, could
assuredly be done by any boy or girl of average capacity and healthy
physical constitution: and if I have accomplished anything, I owe it,
among other fortunate circumstances, to the fact that through the
early training bestowed upon me by my father, I started, I may fairly
say, with an advantage of a quarter of a century over my con-
temporaries.'20

That when this education ended John Mill was for some years little
more than the 'reasoning machine' depicted in the Autobiography we
need not doubt. The description given of him at the age of eighteen

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

or nineteen by his friend John Roebuck is probably very just; he writes
that when he first met Mill he found that:

'although possessed of much learning, and thoroughly acquainted with
the state of the political world, [he] was, as might have been expected,
the mere exponent of other men's ideas, these men being his father
and Bentham; and that he was utterly ignorant of what is called
society; that of the world, as it worked around him, he knew nothing;
and above all, of woman he was as a child. He had never played with
boys; in his life he had never known any, and we, in fact, who were
now his associates, were the first companions he had ever mixed
with.' 21

When one reads the chapters of the Autobiography devoted to these
years and the prodigious amount of work accomplished, it is only too
easy to forget that Mill was still only twenty years of age when the
period terminated in a severe and prolonged attack of melancholia.
That one of the main causes of the acute dejection, from which he
emerged only gradually over a period of years, was, in addition to over-
work, the struggle to emancipate himself from the complete intellectual
sway which his father had held over him, one may readily believe
without subscribing to the full to the psycho-analytical interpretation
given of it recently in an interesting study.22 To that essay we are
indebted also for an important passage omitted from the published
version of the Autobiography. It is taken from the manuscript of an
early draft, quite possibly the same which we shall later find Mill
discussing with his wife in 1854, which was in the possession of the
late Professor Jacob H. Hollander and is presumably still among his
library:

'But in respect to what I am here concerned with — the moral
agencies which acted on myself — it must be mentioned as a most
shameful one that my father's older children neither loved him nor
with any warmth of affection anyone else.

'That rarity in England, a really warm hearted mother would in
the first place have made my father a totally different being and in the
second would have made the children grow up loving and being loved.
But my mother with the very best intentions only knew how to pass
her life in drudging for them. Whatever she could do for them she did
and they liked her because she was kind to them but to make herself
loved, looked up to, or even obeyed, required qualities which she

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

unfortunately did not possess. I thus grew up in the absence of love and
in the presence of fear; and many and indelible are the effects of this
bringing up in the stunting of my moral growth.

'I grew up with an instinct of closeness. I had no one to whom I
desired to express everything which I felt and the only person I was in
communication with to whom I looked up, I had too much fear of to
make the communication to him of any act or feeling ever a matter of
frank impulse or spontaneous inclination.

'Another evil I shared with many of the sons of energetic fathers.
To have been through childhood under the constant rule of a strong
will certainly is not favourable to strength of will. I was so much
accustomed to be told what to do either in the form of direct command
or of rebuke for not doing it that I acquired the habit of leaving my
responsibility as a moral agent to rest on my father and my conscience
never speaking to me except by his voice.'23

This passage is significant not only because of the candid description
of Mill's attitude towards his father but no less because of the reference
to his mother, whose complete absence from the Autobiography has
so often been commented upon. Yet it is doubtful whether the harsh
judgment expressed in it, very probably written during the period of his
estrangement from his mother following his marriage, truly represents
his feelings as a young man. There is some testimony to the contrary
by contemporaries, and even though the unfavourable comments
evoked by the Autobiography may have led them to overemphasize this
point, they agree too well to be dismissed.

H. Solly, who had been a classmate of John's younger brother James
at University College and in the summer of 1830 had spent a week
with the Mills at their cottage at Mickleham, near Dorking in Surrey,
says that

'John Mill always seemed to me a great favourite with his family.
He was evidently very fond of his mother and sisters, and they of
him; and he frequently manifested a sunny brightness and gaiety of
heart and behaviour which were singularly fascinating.'24

Elsewhere Solly remembers

'the impression he made on us by his domestic qualities, the affectionate
playfulness of his character as a brother in the company of his sisters,
and of the numerous younger branches of the family.'25

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

J. Crompton, another member of the same class at University
College, records his impressions from similar visits in almost the same
words:

'In these days John was devotedly attached to his mother and
exuberant in his playful tokens of affection. Towards his father he was
deferential, never venturing to controvert him in argument nor taking
a prominent part in the conversation in his presence.'26

John Mill was then, of course, living at his parents' home and con-
tinued to do so after James Mill's death in 1836 until his marriage
fifteen years later. At the time of which we are speaking he shared that
home with eight younger brothers and sisters, ranging down to George
who must have been nearly twenty years his junior.27 John had then
taken over from his father most of the task of instructing the younger
members of the family, a duty which must have made considerable
inroads on his time but of which he makes practically no mention in
the Autobiography. ^ But though Mill continued these duties, the home
must have become increasingly uncongenial to him as he slowly
detached himself from the beliefs of the father whose strong personality
dominated it. His position was not made easier by the fact that since
1823, when he had entered the offices of the East India Company,
his father had become also his official superior with whom he must
have been in constant close contact after, in 1828 and at the age of
twenty-two, he had himself been promoted to a senior position. He
could expect no sympathy from the older man for the many new
impressions and ideas which he readily absorbed in those years and
which led him more and more away from the utilitarian faith. It was
particularly in these years following the 'crisis in his mental history'
that he proved that exceptional capacity of which he justly prides
himself in the Autobiography^ his 'willingness and ability to learn from
everybody'.29 But few systems of thought can have been more anti-
pathetic to James Mill than those by which in these years his son was
most attracted, those of Coleridge and his German inspirers, of the
French Saint-Simonians, and soon of Carlyle. For a time we feel in his
correspondence with some of his contemporaries, particularly in his
letters to John Sterling and Adolphe d'Eichthal, how he suffered from
the intellectual isolation in which he has been led and how he longed
for a real companion with whom he could fully share his new interests.
But, although this is the one period in his life when he went out of his

j.s.m. 33 c

1830 HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

way to seek friendships with other men and when he freely mixed in
various kinds of society, he remained essentially lonely. There is a
significant letter to John Sterling which bears quoting at some length
since it better than any other document describes his emotional state
not long before he met Harriet Taylor.

J. S. M. to John Sterling, 15 April i82g :30 I am now chiefly
anxious to explain to you, more clearly than I fear I did,
what I meant when I spoke to you of the comparative loneli-
ness of my probable future lot. Do not suppose me to mean
that I am conscious at present of any tendency to mis-
anthropy— although among the various states of mind, some
of them extremely painful ones, through which I have passed
through the last three years, something distantly approach-
ing misanthropy was one. At present I believe that my sym-
pathies with society, which were never strong, are, on the
whole, stronger than they ever were. By loneliness I mean the
absence of that feeling which has accompanied me through
the greater part of my life, that which one fellow traveller, or
one fellow-soldier, has towards another — the feeling of being
engaged in the pursuit of a common object, and of mutually
cheering one another on, and helping one another in an
arduous undertaking. This, which after all is one of the
strongest ties of individual sympathy, is at present, so far as I
am concerned, suspended at least, if not entirely broken off.
There is now no human being (with whom I can associate on
terms of equality) who acknowledges a common object with
me, or with whom I can co-operate even in any practical
undertaking, without the feeling that I am only using a man,
whose purposes are different, as an instrument for the
furtherance of my own. Idem s entire de republica, was thought,
by one of the best men who ever lived, to be the strongest
bond of friendship : for republica I would read 'all the great
objects of life', where all the parties concerned have at hearts
any great objects at all. I do not see how there can be other-
wise that idem velle, idem nolle, which is necessary to perfect
friendship. Being excluded, therefore, from this, I am re-

HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE 1830

solved hereafter to avoid all occasion for debate, since they
cannot now strengthen my sympathies with those who agree
with me, and are sure to weaken them with those who differ.

Unsettled though Mill's mind was in these years, they were never-
theless one of the periods of his greatest productivity and perhaps that of
his most original thought. Indeed it seems that most of the ideas which
he later developed in his major works were first conceived during the
few years following his recoveryform the period of dejection. It was in
1 829 that Macaulay's famous attack on James Mill's Essay on Govern-
ment, perhaps together with some of the early works of Auguste Comte
which John Mill read at the same time, started the train of thought
which led to his characteristic ideas on Logic on which he began to
work at the beginning of the following year. About the same time he
wrote his first and most original work on economic theory, the Essays
on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy. He also continued to
steep himself in the history of the French Revolution on which he had
started to work when, early in 1828, he had reviewed Walter Scott's
Life of Napoleon and which a few years later still seemed his favourite
topic of conversation.31 His interest in French politics had then been
rekindled by a visit to Paris immediately after the Revolution of July
1830, and therefore either just before or just after he first met Mrs.
Taylor; and for some time thereafter French affairs greatly occupied
his attention until they were partly superseded by the even more direct
concern with the Reform Bill agitation at home into which he threw
much of his energy.

Chapter Two

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY

CRISES

1830-1833

ten if we do not accept all of Thomas Carlyle's later adorn-
ments of the story,1 there is no reason to doubt the tradition
-Jthat it was W. J. Fox who brought Mill to Mrs. Taylor. To

the dinner-party at the home of the Taylors at which the introduction
was effected not only Mill but the whole 'Trijackia' was invited, that
is, he and his closest friends of the preceding years, John Roebuck and
George John Graham.2 Harriet Martineau was also of the party and
later appears to have been fond of telling the circumstances, but Bain's
discretion has refrained from passing her story on to us.3 Apparently
a strong mutual attraction was at once felt. In the Autobiography Mill
says that 'it was years after my introduction to Mrs. Taylor before my
acquaintance with her became at all intimate or confidential'.4 But
though we know little about the first two years after the meeting, the
connexion seems even then to have been closer than these words
suggest. There are no dated documents before the birth of Mrs.
Taylor's last child, Helen, on 27 July 1831, and if it were not for one
curious fact one would be inclined to assign the few undated early
letters referring to Mill to a date after this. There exists, however, a
note by Eliza Flower to Mrs. Taylor in which, with reference to an
article on Lord Byron in the Edinburgh Review^ she asks 'Did you or
Mill do it?'5 This must refer to the review of Thomas Moore's Letters
and 'Journals of Lord Byron which appeared in the Edinburgh Review
for June 1831, and since the date of the letter seems to be 30 June

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1831

1 83 1, it would appear as if at this early date Mrs. Taylor's closest
friend was already so familiar with the similarity of her and Mill's
views as to believe (without justification) that the article must be by
either of them.6

This circumstance gives one more confidence than one might feel
otherwise for assigning the earliest letters relating to their connexion
to the preceding winter, when the Saint Simonian Bontemps who is
mentioned in one of them is known to have been in London. These
early letters are all connected with a certain Monsieur Desainteville, a
Frenchman living in London and occasionally contributing to the
Monthly Repository? The earliest extant letter by Mrs. Taylor to Mill
refers to him.

H. T. to J. S. M., Winter 1830 [3i{?y Friday Morning/
My dear Sir/You may imagine how much we were afflicted
by this sad story of our poor friend M. Desainteville the first
intelligence of which I got from your two notes which I
received together yesterday: how unkind and neglectful we
must have appeared? Pray express to him my sympathy and
best wishes. Mr. Taylor has seen him and found him better
than he expected : what a terrible state of emotion he must
have suffered so to have reduced him.

In haste yours very truly

H. Taylor

B. E. Desainteville to John Taylor, early 1831(f):9 Desainte-
ville en acceptant avec plaisir l'invitation de Monsieur Taylor
croit devoir l'informer que M. Bontemps connait parfaite-
ment Mill et que ce dernier ne serait pas a la table de M.
Taylor Tun des convives les moins interessants pour M.
Bontemps. Si Monsieur Taylor n'y voit aucun inconvenient,
Desainteville le prier d'inviter Mill a diner avec nous, ce
serait en outre le vrai moyen de scellerjoliment la reconcilia-
tion qui s'est opere entre Monsieurs Taylor et Mill.

We have no knowledge why a reconciliation between John Taylor
and Mill should have been necessary at so early a date.10

Whether these documents belong to the first or to the second year
of the acquaintance, they at least agree with the strong probability that

1832 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

at the end of two years it had become fairly intimate. If we correctly
interpret the reference to the 'Nouvelle Foret' in the following undated
note by Mill, it would appear that at the beginning of August 1832,
when he returned from a walking tour in Hampshire, West Sussex,
and the Isle of Wight, ending up in the New Forest,11 he found a letter
from Mrs. Taylor telling him that they must not meet again.

J. S. M. to H. 71., late July 1832 (?);12 Benie soit la main
qui a trace ces characteres ! Elle m'a ecrit — il suffit : bien que
je ne dissimul pas c'est pour me dire un eternel adieu.

Cette adieu, qu'elle ne croie pas que je Taccepte jamais.
Sa route et la mienne sont separe, elle l'a dit: mais elles
peuvent, elles doivent, se recontrer. A quelque' epoque, dans
quelque' endroit, que ce puisse etre, elle me trouvera toujours
ce que j'ai ete, ce que je suis encore.

i Elle sera obeie: mes lettres n'iront plus troubler sa tran-
quillite, ou verser une goutte de plus dans sa coupe des
chagrins. Elle sera obeie, par les motifs qu'elle donne — elle
le serait quand meme elle se serait bornee a me communiquer
ses volontes. Lui obeir est pour moi une necessite.

Elle ne refusera pas, j'espere, l'offrande de ces petites
fleurs, que j'apportee pour elle du fond de la Nouvelle-Foret.
Donnez-les lui s'il le faut, de votre part.

A few weeks later, however, normal relations between them seem
to have been re-established. At least on 1 September Mill wrote to
John Taylor the only letter exchanged between the two men which
has been preserved.

J. S. M. to John Taylor ', j September 1832 :13 Saturday/
I.H./ My dear Sir/Two acquaintances of mine, MM. Jules
Bastide and Hippolyte Dussard,14 distinguished members of
the republican party in France, have been compelled to fly
their country for a time in consequence of the affair of the
fifth and sixth of June. They were not conspirators, for there
was no conspiracy, but when they found the troops and the
people at blows, they took the side of the people. Now I am
extremely desirous to render their stay here as little disagree-

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1832

able as possible, and to enable them to profit by it, and to
return with a knowledge of England and with those favour-
able sentiments towards our English hommes du mouvement
which it is of so much importance that they and their friends
should entertain. I am particularly desirous of bringing them
into contact with the better members of the Political Union,
that they might not suppose our men of action to be all
of them like the Revells15 and Murphys whom they saw
and heard on Wednesday last. Yourself and Mr. Fox are
[the(?)]16 persons I should most wish them to see. But I do
not like to give them a letter of introduction to you without
first ascertaining whether it would be agreeable to yourself.
Will you therefore oblige me with a line, to say, if possible,
that you will allow me to tell them to call upon you, or other-
wise]16 to say that you would rather not. I have not men-
tioned the matter to them, nor shall I do so until I have the
pleasure of hearing from you.

Ever truly yours
J. S. Mill.

Apparently Mr. Taylor at once sent an invitation to the two
Frenchmen, who were, however, unable to accept it, and a little later
M. Desainteville asked Mrs. Taylor to renew it.

B. E. Desainteville to H. T.y Septemben832:17 De retour de
la campagne j'apprends la mort de mon pauvre ami Crawley
et j'avai, comme vous pouvez le concevoir, le coeur brise. Le
volume des oeuvres de Platon que je vous ai prete lui appar-
tient et je vous serai infinitement oblige, si vous n'en faites
plus usage, de me l'envoyer, afin de le restituer a qui de droit.

Mill me parait extremement heureux de la cordialite avec
laquelle M. Taylor, qu'il estime beaucoup, l'a recu et j'en
ressens moi-meme la plus vive satisfaction. II me dit que
MM. Bastide et Dussard n'ont pas perdu l'espoir que vous
renouvellerez l'aimable invitation que vous avez eu l'ex-
treme bonte de leur faire et que des circonstances tout a fait
independants d'eux ne leur ont pas permis d'accepter: or,

1832 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

comme Mill quitte Londres vendredi prochain, auriez vous
la bonte de prier de Mr. Taylor d'inviter ces messieurs avec
Mill a prendre le the jeudi prochain chez vous? cela con-
tenterai tout le monde.

Je me fais un veritable plaisir de vous envoyer ci-joint le
dernier numero de St. [?] qui contient le discours de l'excel-
lent M. Fox avec des observations sur lui qui me font bien
plaisir.

J'ai l'honneur d'etre, madame,
V.t.h.e.t.b.A.
B. E. Desainteville

During 1832 and the years immediately following the one common
interest in which we can follow Mill's and Mrs. Taylor's activities are
their contributions to Fox's Monthly Repository. This journal Fox had
bought in 1831, perhaps with financial help from Mr. Taylor, after he
had already been editing it for three years, and for a time Mrs. Taylor
lent the help of her pen to assist him in the effort of turning it from a
denominational organ into a general literary and political periodical.
Practically all her known publications appeared in the Monthly Re-
pository for 1832, and in the following year Mill also became a regular
contributor and at the same time entered a new field as a critic of
poetry.

Mrs. Taylor's contributions18 of 1832 include her three printed
poems, probably written some time before and already mentioned, six
reviews of books and one small essay. It cannot be said that there is
anything very remarkable about her prose compositions of this time.
They begin in May with a review of Sarah Austin's translation of
Prince Puckler-Muskau's Tour of a German Prince where she finds
something to praise because 'in this land of caste he avows his sym-
pathy with the paria\19 In June appeared a somewhat more ambitious
discussion of Mrs. Trollope's Domestic Manners of the Americans with
which she dealt severely:

'It has unfortunately chanced that, with few exceptions, the descrip-
tions of the United States have been those of persons either of small
intellect, and incapable, with their best efforts, of judging between that
which is essential and that which is accidental, as instance Basil Hall;
or, worse, those whose prejudices make their principles and whose

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1832

long-formed habits of subserviency make them fancy servility refine-
ment and its absence coarseness; and of this latter class is the author
before us.'20

Three more reviews by Mrs. Taylor, like the others well written
and expressing strong radical sentiments, appeared in July and Septem-
ber,21 and in November followed one more, of a translation22 of
B. Sarrans' Louis Philippe and the Revolution of 18 JO in which one is
inclined to detect signs of Mill's hand, though it may be that merely
his writings on the subject had served as a model. The review ends:

'There can be no doubt that the state of things in France is again
slowly tending towards a great moral or physical revolution. That the
former may suffice, all friends of humanity must desire; but, should
that force of itself be insufficient to produce agreement between the
spirit of the government and the spirit of the time, they will not be true
friends of humanity who shall not welcome any power which, by
means of some evil, may work the regeneration of the people who head
the political regeneration of Europe. As needful is it to be kept in
mind by nations, as by individuals, Aide toi, le del fatdera.'23

Mrs. Taylor's last known contribution to the Monthly Repository,
in December, is a pleasant little essay on the rival attractions of 'The
Seasons' of which the only noteworthy passage is perhaps the startling
assertion that

'flowers are Utilitarians in the largest sense. Their very life is supported
by administering to the life of others — producers and distributors, but
consumers only of what, unused, would be noxious.'24

Mill's contributions are more interesting, even from our particular
point of view. When, early in 1832, Fox had first urged him to con-
tribute he had committed himself no further than to a guarded half-
promise that whenever he had anything suitable he would be glad to
let Fox have it for the Monthly Repository.25 The first result of this was
an essay ' On Genius' which appeared in the form of a Letter to the
Editor in September 1832.26 But his regular contributions did not
begin until his article 'What is Poetry' appeared in January of the
following year.27

There could be little doubt that this new strong interest was due to
Mrs. Taylor's influence even if we had not Mill's own statement that

1832 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

this was so. Before that time he had appeared to his friends as a dis-
tinctly unpoetical nature28 and in his account of his discovery of Words-
worth he himself explains Wordsworth's appeal to him by the fact that
Wordsworth was 'the poet of unpoetical natures'.29 In another avail-
able fragment of that early draft of the Autobiography which has
already been mentioned Mill says30:

'The first years of my friendship with her were in respect of my own
development mainly years of poetic culture. ... I did cultivate this
taste as well as a taste for paintings and sculpture and did read with
enthusiasm her favourite poets, especially the one whom she placed far
above all others, Shelley.'

From a much later source we know that among Shelley's poems
they particularly admired the 'Hymn to Intellectual Beauty', and the
same authority reports that their strong preference for Shelley was
accompanied by an equally strong aversion to Byron, the lowness of
whose ideals Mill deplored while Mrs. Mill then described the popular
enthusiasm for him as 'a mere popular delusion'.31

Of the two essays of poetry which were among the first fruits of
Mill's new interest it has not unjustly been said that

'while clear and strenuous as most of his thoughts were, [they] are
neither scientifically precise, nor do they contain any notable new idea
not previously expressed by Coleridge — except perhaps the idea that
emotions are the main link of association in the poetic mind: still his
working out of the definition of poetry, his distinction between novels
and poems, and between poetry and eloquence, is interesting as throw-
ing light upon his own poetical susceptibilities. He holds that poetry is
the "delineation of the deeper and more secret workings of human
emotions".'32

In Mill's next excursion into criticism of poetry it is fairly certain
that Mrs. Taylor took a direct part; and, although it saw the light of
print only in recent times, it was destined to play some role in the
development of a major poet. Robert Browning had some years before,
when still a boy, made the acquaintance of W. J. Fox and the Misses
Flower. Eliza Flower is even reputed to have inspired both Brown-
ing's lost early poem Incondita and his Pauline^ the first of his poems to
be printed. When it appeared in March 1833, Browning turned to
Fox for help in making it known, and Fox not only reviewed it himself

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1832

in the Monthly Repository but also passed a copy on to Mill for review
elsewhere. A short article which Mill wrote on it for the Examiner
could not be inserted33 and an attempt to alter and enlarge it for Tait's
Edinburgh Magazine5* met with no better fate. This article is lost.
But Mill also freely annotated his copy35 on the margin, marking 'all
the passages where the meaning is so imperfectly expressed as not to be
easily understood', and summed up his opinion on the flyleaf. Some of
these marginal notes are in a different hand, which is almost certainly
Harriet Taylor's, and though the notes which can be ascribed to her
with any confidence do not go beyond short exclamations like 'most
beautiful' and 'deeply true', there can be little doubt that she and Mill
fully discussed the poem before Mill returned the annotated copy to
Fox with the remark that 'On the whole the observations are not
flattering to the author — perhaps too strong in the expression to be
shown to him'. 36 The copy nevertheless reached Browning soon after-
wards and the young poet was so deeply mortified by the criticism that
he resolved never again by premature publication to expose himself to
similar censure. Although Mill's critique has been printed in the
standard Life of Robert Browning, it has never been included in any
publication concerning Mill and therefore may be given a place
here37:

'With considerable poetic powers, the writer seems to me possessed
with a more intense and morbid self-consciousness than I ever knew
in any sane human being. I should think it a sincere confession, though
a most unlovable state, if the "Pauline" were not evidently a mere
phantom. All about her is full of inconsistency — he neither loves her
nor fancies he loves her, yet insists upon talking love to her. If she
existed and loved him, he treats her most ungenerously and unfeel-
ingly. All his aspirings and yearnings and regrets point to other things,
never to her; then he pays her off toward the end by a piece of flum-
mery amounting to the modest request that she will love him and live
with him and give herself up to him without his loving her — moyennant
quoi he will think her and call her everything that is handsome, and he
promises her that she shall find it mighty pleasant. Then he leaves off
by saying that he knows he shall have changed his mind by to-morrow,
and "despite these intents which seem so fair," but that having been
thus visited once no doubt she will be again — and is therefore "in per-
fect joy", bad luck to him! as the Irish say. A cento of most beautiful

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

passages might be made from this poem, and the psychological history
of himself is powerful and truthful — truth-like certainly, all but
the last stage. That, he evidently had not yet got into. The self-
seeking and self-worshipping state is well described — beyond that, I
should think the writer has made, as yet, only the next step, viz. into
despising his own state. I even question whether part even of that
self-disdain is not assumed. He is evidently dissatisfied, and feels part
of the badness of his state; he does not write as if it were purged out
of him. If he once could muster a hearty hatred of his selfishness it
would go : as it is, he feels only the lack of good, not the positive evil.
He feels not remorse, but only disappointment; a mind in that state can
only be regenerated by some new passion, and I know not what to wish
for him but that he may meet with a real Pauline.

'Meanwhile he should not attempt to show how a person may be
recovered from this morbid state, for he is hardly convalescent, and
"what should we speak of but that which we know".'

Mill took a much deeper interest in the other rising great poet of
the time, Alfred Tennyson. Although the review of the second volume
of Tennyson's poems, on which Mill had been working at about the
time when he wrote on Browning, at first did not grow beyond an
introduction which he later turned into his second article on poetry for
the Monthly Repository,™ it was, when it ultimately appeared two years
later,39 still the first full recognition of a great poet.

That at this time Mill's interests were inspired and shared by Mrs.
Taylor we may also feel assured from the closeness of their contacts.
At least by the spring of 1833 Mill seems to have been spending most
of his free time at the new home of the Taylors at 1 7 Kent Terrace,
Park Road, on the western edge of Regent's Park, to which they had
moved from the City at some time during the preceding winter. In
reply to W. J. Fox's mentioning that he had hoped to meet Mill there
on a certain Wednesday, Mill explained:

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, ig May 1833. ,4° I seldom go there
without special reason on that day of the week for as it cannot
be right in the present circumstances to be there every even-
ing, none costs so little to give up than that in which there is
much shorter time and that in the presence of others. Had I
known of your going I would have gone.

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

And in another letter to Fox, only a week or two later, Mill said
that he was 'going to Kent Terrace today, despite of its being
Wednesday'.41

During the following summer Mill seems to have continued his
visits at some place in the neighbourhood of London at which Mrs.
Taylor was staying and there exist a few notes by her to him which
may conjecturally be assigned to this period.

H. T. to J. S. M., summer 1833(f)** In the beautiful still-
ness of this lovely country — and with the fresh feeling of all
the enjoyment it has been to him — and so soon after that
which to him is such a quick-passing pleasure — he is perhaps
feeling again what he once said to me, that 'the less human
the more lovely' I seemed to him. do you remember that my
love? /have, because I felt that whatever such a feeling was,
it was not love — and since how perfectly he has denied it, —
or that may not be exactly the feeling, but only his old 'vanity
of vanities' may have come back? neither one nor the other
would grieve me, but for his own dear sake — for me I am
loved as I desire to be — heart and soul take their rest in the
peace of ample satisfaction after how much [?] & care which
of that kind at least has passed for ever — o this sureness of an
everlasting spiritual home is itself the blessedness of the
blessed — & to that being added — or rather that being
brought by, this exquisiteness which is & has been each
instant since, & seems as if with no fresh food it would be
enough for a long life's enjoyment. O my own love, whatever
it may or may not be to you, you need never regret for a
moment what has already brought such increase of happiness
and can in no possible way increase evil. If it is right to
change the 'smallest chance' into a l distant certainty' it wd
surely show want of intellect rather than use of it to [breaks
off before end of page],

H. T. to J. S. M., summer i833(?).AZ Far from being un-
happy or even low this morning, I feel as tho' you had never
loved me half so well as last night — & I am in the happiest

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

spirits & quite well part of which is owing to that nice sight
this morning.

I am taking as much care of your robin as if it were your
own sweet self. If I do not succeed in making this live I shall
think it is not possible to tame a full grown one.

It is very well but so was the other for two days. . . .

Adieu darling. How very nice next month will be. I am
quite impatient for it.

These letters may or may not belong to the summer of 1833
when the relation was evidently approaching a new crisis. We can
watch some of the developments in Mill's letters to Carlyle, whom he
had promised to visit at Craigenputtock during his month's vacation in
September. In a letter of 2 August he for the first time hinted mysteri-
ously that this visit would remain in some measure uncertain 'because
the only contingency which would prevent it may happen at any time,
and will remain possible to the very last'.44 A month later he wrote that
the plan was definitely off:

J. S. M. to Thomas Carly/e, 5 September 1833?* There
were about twenty chances to one that I should [see you in
the autumn], but it is the twenty-first which has taken effect
in reality. I was mistaken, too, when I said that if I went not
to Craigenputtock I should go nowhere. I am going to Paris;
the same cause which I then thought, if it operated at all,
would keep me here, now sends me there. It is a journey
entirely of duty; nothing else, you will do me the justice to
believe, would have kept me from Craigenputtock after what
I have said and written so often; it is duty, and duty con-
nected with a person to whom of all persons alive I am under
the greatest obligation.

It seems that on the very day when he wrote this letter Mill must
have spoken or written to Harriet Taylor more openly than before.
All we have is the following note of hers to him, posted on the follow-
ing day.

H. T. to J. S. M., 6 September 1833. M I am glad that you
have said it — I am happy that you have — no one with any

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

fineness & beauty of character but must feel compelled to say
all, to the being they really love, or rather with any permanent
reservation it is not love — while there is reservation, however
little of it, the love is just so much imperfect. There has never,
yet, been entire confidence around us. The difference between
you and me in that respect is, that I have always yearned to
have your confidence with an intensity of wish which has
often, for a time, swallowed up the naturally stronger feeling
— the affection itself — you have not given it, not that you
wished to reserve — but that you did not need to give — but
not having that need of course you had no perception that I
had & so you had discouraged confidence from me 'til the
habit of checking first thoughts has become so strong that when
in your presence timidity has become almost a disease of the
nerves. It would be absurd only it is so painful (?) to notice
in myself that every word I ever speak to you is detained a
second before it is said 'til I am quite sure I am not by impli-
cation asking for your confidence. It is but that the only
being who has ever called forth all my faculties of affection
is the only one in whose presence I ever felt constraint.47 At
times when that has been strongly felt I too have doubted
whether there was not possibility of disappointment — that
doubt will never return. You can scarcely conceive dearest
what satisfaction this note of yours is to me for I have been
depressed by the fear that I wd wish most altered in you, you
thought quite well of, perhaps the best in your character. I
am quite sure that want of energy is a defect, would be a
defect if it belonged to the character, but that thank Heaven
I am sure it does not. It is such an opposite to the sort of
character.

Tes — these circumstances do require greater strength than
any other — the greatest — that which you have, & which if
you had not I should never have loved you, I should not love
you now. In this, as in all these important matters there is no
medium between the greatest, all, and none — anything less
than all being insufficient. There might be just as well none.

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

If I did not know them to be false, how heartily I should
scorn such expressions, 'I have ceased to will' ! Then to wish?
for does not wish with the power to fulfil constitute will?

It is false that 'your strength is not equal to the circum-
stances in which you have placed' yourself. — It is quite
another thing to be guided by a judgement on which you can
rely and which is better placed for judgement than yourself.

Would you let yourself 'drift with the tide whether it flow
or ebb' if in one case every wave took you further from me?
Would you not put what strength you have into resisting it?
Tell me — for if you would not, how happens it that you will
to love me or any (?).

However — since you tell me the evil & I believe that evil,
I may truly believe the good — and if all the good you have
written in the last two or three notes be firm truths there is
good enough, even for me. The most horrible feeling I ever
know is when for moments the fear comes over me that
nothing which you say of yourself is to be absolutely relied on
— that you are not sure even of your strongest feelings. Tell
me again that it is not.

If it were certain that 'whatever one thinks best the other
will think best' it is plain there could be no unhappiness — if
that were certain want of energy could not be felt, could not
be an evil, unless both wanted energy — the only evil there
could be for me is that you should not think my best your
best — or should not agree in my opinion of my best.

dearest I have but five minutes in W1 to write this or I
should say more — but I was obliged to say something before
tomorrow, t'was so long to wait dearest.

Of what must have preceded this we get a glimpse from a letter by
Mill to Fox, written on the next day, in which he suggests that he
might transfer to Fox's Monthly Repository the paper on Poetry which
he had thought of putting at the head of the review of Tennyson.

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, Saturday, 7 September 1833 :48 If you
like the idea, and if you see her before Monday, will you

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

mention it to her — you know it is hers — if she approves,
it shall be yours. I shall see her on Monday myself, and
then I shall speak of the matter to her. [Ye]49s — she is like
hers[elf]49 if she is ever out of spirits it is always something
amiss in me that is the cause — it is so now — it is because she
sees that what ought to be so much easier to me than to her,
is in reality more difficult — costs harder struggle — to part
company with the opinion of the world, and with my former
modes of doing good in it. however, thank Heaven, she does
not doubt that I can do it.

It seems that as the outcome of long discussions Mr. Taylor had
been persuaded to agree to an experimental separation from his wife for
six months, and in the course of September Mrs. Taylor left for Paris.
Mill followed her there on the 10th of October for a stay of somewhat
over six weeks. One of the letters which he wrote thence to Fox has
been preserved and must be quoted in full.

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, Paris, 5 or 6 November 1833 :50 I
could have filled a long letter to you with the occurrences and
feelings and thoughts of any one day since I have been here —
this fortnight seems an age in mere duration, and is an age in
what it has done for us two. It has brought years of experi-
ence to us — good and happy experience most of it. We never
could have been so near, so perfectly intimate, in any former
circumstances — we never could have been together as we
have been in innumerable smaller relations and concerns —
we never should have spoken of all things, in all frames of
mind, with so much freedom and unreserve. I am astonished
when I think how much has been restrained, how much
untold, unshewn and uncommunicated till now — how much
which by the mere fact of its being spoken, has disappeared
— so many real unlikenesses, so many more false impressions
of unlikeness, most of which have only been revealed to me
since they have ceased to exist or those which still exist have
ceased to be felt painfully. Not a day has passed without
removing some real & serious obstacle to happiness. I never

j.s.m. 49 D

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

thought so humbly of myself compared with her, never
thought & felt myself so little worthy of her, never more
keenly regretted that I am not, in some things, very different
for her sake. — yet it is so much to know as I do now; that
almost all which has ever caused her any misgivings with
regard to our fitness for each other was mistaken in point of
fact — that the mistakes no longer exist — & that she is now
(as she is) quite convinced that we are perfectly suited to pass
our lives together — better suited indeed for that perfect than
for this imperfect companionship. There will never again I
believe be any obstacle to our being together entirely, from
the slightest doubt that the experiment would succeed with
respect to ourselves — not, as she used to say, for a short time,
but for our natural lives. And yet — all the other obstacles or
rather the one obstacle being as great as ever — our futurity is
still perfectly uncertain. She has decided nothing except
what has always been decided — not to renounce the liberty
of sight — and it does not seem likely that anything will be
decided until the end of the six months, if even then finally.
For me, I am certain that whatever she decides will be wisest
and rightest, even if she decides what was so repugnant to
me at first — to remain here alone — it is repugnant to me still
— but I can now see that perhaps it will be best — the future
will decide that.

When will you write again — she shewed me your letter —
it is beautiful in you to write so to any one, but who could
write otherwise to her?

I am happy, but not so happy as when the future appeared
surer.

I had written thus far before receiving your letter, and I
am glad of it. I have now taken a larger sheet and copied the
above unto it.

Your letter does indeed show that you do not 'at all under-
stand her state' and never have understood it — this I have
only lately begun to suspect, & never was quite sure of it till
now — and I see that under the presumption that you were

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

more aware than I perceive you are of the real state of her
feelings, I myself have said and written things which have
confirmed you in the wrong impression.

You seem to think that she was decided, and is now un-
decided— that the state of feeling which led to the separation
has been as you say 'interrupted' and is to be 'recommenced'.
Now this is an incorrect and so far a lower idea of her than
the true one — she never had decided upon anything except
not to give up either the feeling, or the power of communica-
tion with me — unless she did so it was Mr. Taylor's wish, and
seemed to be necessary to his comfort that she should live
apart from him. When the separation had actually taken
place the result did as you say seem certain — not because we
had willed to make it so, but because it seemed the necessary
consequence of the new circumstances if the feelings of all
continued the same. This was the sole cause & I think cause
enough for the hopefulness and happiness which I felt almost
all that month and which must have made a false impression
on you. I never felt sure of what was to be after the six
months, but I felt an immense increase of the chances in my
favour. When I came here, I expected to find her no more
decided than she had always been about what would be best
for all, but not to find her as for the first time I did, doubtful
about what would be best for our own happiness — under the
influence of that fact and of the painful feelings it excited, I
wrote to you. That doubt, thank heaven, lasted but a short
time — if I had delayed my letter two days longer I should
never have sent it.

If Mr. Taylor feels as you believe he does, he has been
very far from telling her 'all he feels' ; for his last letter to her,
which came by the same post as this of yours (the first she has
ever shewed me) is in quite another tone. He is most entirely
mistaken in all the facts. Her affection to him, which origin-
ated in gratitude for his affection & kindness, instead of
being weakened by this stronger feeling, has been greatly
strengthened, by so many new proofs of his affection for her, &

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

by the unexpected & (his nature considered) really admirable
generosity & nobleness which he has shewn under so severe
a trial. Instead of reviving in absence, her affection for him
has been steady throughout ; it is of quite another character
from this feeling, & therefore does not in the least conflict
with it naturally, & now when circumstances have thrown
the two into opposition she can no more overcome, or wish to
overcome the one, than the other. The difference is, that the
one, being only affection, not passion, would be satisfied with
knowing him to be happy though away from her — but if the
choice were absolutely between giving up the stronger feel-
ing, & making him (what he says he should be) durably
wretched, I am quite convinced that either would be
[more(?)]51 than she could bear. I know it is the common
notion of passionate love that it sweeps away all other affec-
tions— but surely the justification of passion, & one of its
greatest beauties & glories, is that in an otherwise fine char-
acter it weakens no feeling which deserves to subsist, but
would naturally strengthen them all. Because her letters to
Mr. Taylor express the strong affection she has always felt,
and he is no longer seeing, every day, proof of her far
stronger feeling for another, he thinks the affection has come
back — he might have seen it quite as plainly before ; only he
refused to believe it. / have seen it, and felt its immense
power over her, in moments of intense excitement with which
I am sure he would believe it to be utterly incompatible.

Her affection for him, which has always been the principle,
is now the sole obstacle to our being together — for the
present there seems absolutely no prospect of that obstacle's
being got over. She believes — & she knows him better than
any of us can — that it would be the breaking up of his whole
future life — that she is determined never to be the cause of,
& I am as determined never to urge her to it, & convinced
that if I did I should fail. Nothing could justify it but 'the
most distinct perception' that it is not only 'necessary to the
happiness of both', but the only means of saving both or

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

either from insupportable unhappiness. That can never be
unless the alternative were entire giving up. I believe he is
quite right in his impression that the worst for him which is
to be expected at the end of the six months is her remaining
permanently here. She will, if it is in human power to do so,
make him understand the exact state of her feelings, and will
as at present minded, give him the choice of every possible
arrangement except entire giving-up, with the strong wish
that her remaining here may be his choice; with a full under-
standing however that the agreement whatever it be, is to be
no longer binding than while it is found endurable. This
seems but a poor result to come of so much suffering & so
much effort, but for us even so the gain is great.

She has seen and approved all that precedes, therefore it is
as much her letter as mine. So now you know the whole state
of the case.

She is on the whole far happier than I have ever known
her, and quite well physically though far from strong — I
have many anxious thoughts of how she is to bear the being
again alone with so little of hope to sustain her. I am so con-
vinced of all I have written above, that if the final decision
were already made (whatever it might be) I am certain that
the fact of Mr. Taylor's being to be here so soon after I am
gone would be a real & great good to her — but now, I am
afraid unless she sees her way clearly to some tolerably satis-
factory arrangement in the first few days of his visit she will
only be made more unhappy by being made to feel more
keenly the impossibility of avoiding great unhappiness to
him.

You know, perhaps, that her brother has been here —
nothing could have been better or sweeter than all he said &
did — he was even friendly.

Can I do anything for you here — see anyone, or bring over
anything for you — I shall leave Paris probably Friday week.

It is idle, almost, to say any thanks for all you are saying
and doing for our good & for such part of the interest you

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

feel in it as regards me personally — I may be able some time
or other to make some return to you for it all, more than by
invoking as I do all the blessings earth is heir to upon you.

Yours
J. S. M.

A small slip of paper which was probably enclosed with this letter
carried a note from Mrs. Taylor to Fox and Eliza Flower:52

I had written to you dearest friends both, — as you are —
but now that I have seen that letter of yours, I cannot send
mine. It is sad to be misunderstood by you — as I have been
before — but it will not be always so — my own dear friends.

0 what a letter (?) was that ! but my head & soul bless you
both.

He tells you quite truly our state — all at least which he
attempts to tell — but there is so much more might be said —
there has been so much more pain than I thought I was
capable of, but also O how much more happiness. O this
being seeming as tho God had willed to show the type of the
possible elevation of humanity. To be with him wholly is my
ideal of the noblest fate for all states of mind and feeling
which are lofty & large & fine, he is the companion spirit
and heart desire — we are not alike in trifles only because I
have so much more frivolity than he. Why do you not write
to me my dearest Lizzie? (I never wrote that name before) if
you wd say on the merest scrap what you are talking about
what the next sermon is about where you walked to, & such
like, how glad I should be ! You must come here — it is a most
beautiful paradise. O how happy we might all be in it. You
will see it with me, bless you! won't you?

When Mill returned to London about 20 November he at once saw
Fox and a few days later again wrote to him.

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, London, 22 November^?) 1833:™

1 have the strongest wish, and some hope, that there will
some day arrive a sketch of Paris, in the manner of some

ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES 1833

of your local sketches — if there does, it will be the most
beautiful thing ever written — she has spoken quite enough
to me at different times, to show what it would be.

Have you seen Mr. Taylor? he has received a letter by
this time, part of which she has sent to me, and which if he
was still in the state in which you last saw him, will certainly
put him completely out of it. Ed. Hardy54 while he confirms
all you told me of the impression her precious letter made
upon him when it came, bringing back his old hopes and
theories, affirms positively that all this had quite gone off
before he received any other letter, & that his acquiescence in
her return to him is not given under the influence of those
hopes and theories but of a real intention of being with her as
a friend and companion. His conduct & feelings now, will
shew whether this is correct. I shall be anxious to know your
impression when you shall have seen him in his present state.

It seems he had written to her again since I left Paris — she
writes 'I had yesterday one of those letters from Mr. Taylor
which make us admire & love him. He says that this plan &
my letters have given him delight — that he has been selfish
— but in future will think more for others & less for himself
— but still he talks of this plan being good for all, by which
he means me, as he says he is sure it will "prevent after
misery" & again he wishes for complete confidence. I have
written exactly what I think, without reserve.'

We do not know what 'this plan' was, but apparently some sort of
compromise solution was agreed upon not long after. From another
letter by Mill to Fox written within a week of this55 we learn that
Mill still did not expect to remain in England and for this reason felt
unable to pursue a suggestion of taking a share in the control of the
Examiner, which was in difficulties. At the same time, in a very full
report to Carlyle on conditions in Paris,56 which the latter intended to
visit, Mill expressed the hope of seeing him there in the following
summer. It seems however that Mrs. Taylor returned to England long
before the end of the six months and probably even before the end of
1833. The understanding seems to have been that while Mr. Taylor

1833 ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

agreed to the continuance of the friendship, the external appearances of
married life should be preserved. Perhaps it was to this date that Mrs.
Taylor referred when, some twenty years later, she gave a foreign
visitor emphatically to understand that since the beginning of her
friendship with Mill she had been to neither of the two men more than
a Seelenfreundin.hl We do not know whether it was already at that
time or only a few years later that she commenced to live most of
the time in the country58 with her small daughter, only occasionally
visiting Kent Terrace, while the two boys were apparently placed
in some boarding school.

Chapter Three

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

about 1832

he situation and the natural inclinations of both parties must
have combined from the beginning to make the position of
J. V» women and their position in marriage one of the main topics
of common interest to Mill and Harriet Taylor. The principles at issue
are not touched upon in any of the early letters which have survived,
but we have two manuscript essays which they wrote for each other at
a very early date. Since Mill's and an earlier draft of Harriet Taylor's
are on paper watermarked '1831' and a later version of hers on paper
watermarked '1832' we shall probably not go far wrong in attributing
them to the latter year. Mill's is much the longer and may be given
first. It tends to confirm his claim in the Autobiography that contrary
to what an uninformed person would probably suspect, this was not one
of the subjects on which he was mainly indebted to her for his ideas.
He says there that

'it might be supposed, for instance, that in my strong convictions on the
complete equality in all legal, political, social and domestic relations,
which ought to exist between men and women, may have been adopted
or learnt from her. This was so far from being the fact, that those con-
victions were among the earliest results of the application of my mind
to political subjects, and the strength with which I held them was, I
believe, more than anything else, the originating cause of the interest
she felt in me. What is true is, that until I knew her, the opinion was
in my mind, little more than an abstract principle. ... I am indeed
painfully conscious of how much of her best thoughts on the subject

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

I have failed to reproduce, and how greatly that little treatise [The
Subjection of Women\ falls short of what would have been if she had
put on paper her entire mind on this question, or had lived to revise
and improve, as she certainly would have done, my imperfect state-
ments of the case.'1

Here are his ideas on the subject as he expressed them for his friend
about thirty-seven years before he stated them in print:

She to whom my life is devoted has wished for written
exposition of my opinions on the subject which, of all con-
nected with human Institutions, is nearest to her happiness.
Such as that exposition can be made without her to suggest
and to decide, it is given in these pages : she, herself, has not
refused to put into writing for me, what she has thought and
felt on the same subject, and there I shall be taught, all
perhaps which I have, and certainly all which I have not,
found out for myself. In the investigation of truth, as in all
else, 'it is not good for man to be alone'. And more than all,
in what concerns the relations of Man with Woman, the law
which is to be observed by both should surely be made by
both; not, as hitherto, by the stronger only.

How easy would it be for either me or you, to resolve this
question for ourselves alone ! Its difficulties, for difficulties it
has, are such as obstruct the avenues of all great questions
which are to be decided for mankind at large, & therefore
not for natures resembling each other, but for natures or at
least characters tending to all the points of the moral com-
pass. All popular morality is, as I once said to you, a compro-
mise among conflicting natures; each renouncing a certain
portion of what its own desires call for, in order to avoid the
evils of a perpetual warfare with all the rest. That is the best
popular morality, which attains this general pacification with
the least sacrifice of the happiness of the higher natures; who
are the greatest, indeed the only real, sufferers by the com-
promise; for they are called upon to give up what would
really make them happy; while others are commonly re-
quired only to restrain desires the gratification of which

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

would bring no real happiness. In the adjustment, moreover,
of the compromise, the higher natures count only in propor-
tion to their number, how small ! & to the number of those
whom they can influence: while, the conditions of the
compromise weigh heavily upon them in the states (?) of
their greater capacity of happiness, & its natural conse-
quence, their keener sense of want and disappointment
when the degree of happiness which they know would fall
to their lot but for untoward external circumstances, is
denied them.

By the higher natures I mean those characters who from
the combination of natural & acquired advantages have the
greatest capacity of feeling happiness, & of bestowing it. Of
bestowing it in two ways : as being beautiful to contemplate,
& therefore the natural objects of admiration and love; and
also as being fitted, and induced, by their qualities of mind
and heart, to promote by their actions, & by all that depends
upon their will, the greatest possible happiness of all who
are within the sphere of their influence.

If all persons were like these, or even would be guided by
these, morality would be very different from what it must now
be ; or rather it would not exist at all as morality, since moral-
ity and inclination would coincide. If all resembled you, my
lovely friend, it would be idle to prescribe rules for them : By
following their own impulses under the guidance of their
own judgment, they would find more happiness, and would
confer more, than by obeying any moral principles or maxims
whatever; since these cannot possibly be adapted beforehand
to every peculiarity of circumstance which can be taken into
account by a sound and vigorous intellect worked by a strong
will, and guided by what Carlyle calls 'an open loving
heart'. Where there exists a genuine and strong desire
to do that which is most for the happiness of all, general
rules are merely aids to prudence, in the choice of means ;
not peremptory obligations. Let but the desires be right,
and the 'imagination lofty and refined': & provided there

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

be disdain of all false seeming, 'to the pure all things
are pure'.

It is easy enough to settle to moral bearings of our ques-
tion upon such characters. The highest natures are of course
impassioned natures ; to such, marriage is but one continued
act of self-sacrifice where strong affection is not; every tie
therefore which restrains them from seeking out and uniting
themselves with some one whom they can perfectly love, is a
yoke to which they cannot be subjected without oppression:
and to such a person when found, they would, natural super-
stition apart, scorn to be united by any other tie than free and
voluntary choice. If such natures have been healthily de-
veloped in other respects, they will have all other good and
worthy feelings strong enough to prevent them from pursu-
ing this happiness at the expense of greater suffering of
others : & that is the limit of the forbearance which morally
ought in such a case to enjoin.

But will the morality which suits the highest natures, in
this matter, be also best for all inferior natures? My convic-
tion is that it will : but this can be only a happy accident. All
the difficulties of morality in any of its brands, grow out of
the conflict which continually arises between the highest
morality & even the best popular morality which the degree
of development yet achieved by average human nature, will
allow to exist.

If all, or even most persons, in the choice of a companion
of the other sex, were led by any real aspiration towards, or
sense of, the happiness which such companionship in its best
shape is capable of giving to the best natures, there would
never have been any reason why law or opinion should have
set any limits to the most unbounded freedom of uniting and
separating: nor is it probable that popular morality would
ever, in a civilized or refined people, have imposed any
restraint upon that freedom. But, as I once said to you, the
law of marriage as it now exists, has been made by sensualists,
and/or sensualists and to bind sensualists. The aim & purpose

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

of that law is either to tie up the sense, in the hope by so
doing, of tying up the soul also, or else to tie up the sense
because the soul is not cared about at all. Such purposes
never could have entered into the minds of any to whom
nature had given souls capable of the higher degrees of hap-
piness: nor could such a law ever have existed but among
persons to whose natures it was in some degree congenial,
& therefore more suitable than at first sight may be supposed
by those whose natures are widely different.

There can, I think, be no doubt that for a long time the
indissolubility of marriage acted powerfully to elevate the
social position of women. The state of things to which in
almost all countries it succeeded, was one in which the power
of repudiation existed on one side but not on both : in which
the stronger might cast away the weaker, but the weaker
could not fly from the stronger. To a woman of impassioned
character, the difference between this and what now exists, is
not worth much ; for she would wish to be repudiated, rather
than to remain united only because she could not be got rid
of. But the aspirations of most women are less high. They
would wish to retain any bond of union they have ever had
with a man to whom they do not prefer any other, and for
whom they have that inferior kind of affection which habits
of intimacy frequently produce. Now, assuming what may be
assumed of the greater number of men, that they are attracted
to women solely by sensuality, or at best by a transitory taste ;
it is not deniable, that the irrevocable vow gave to women,
when the passing gust had blown over, a permanent hold
upon the men who would otherwise have cast them off.
Something, indeed much, of a community of interest, arose
from the mere fact of being indissolubly united : the husband
took an interest in the wife as being his wife, if he did not
from any better feeling: it became essential to his respecta-
bility that his wife also should be respected ; and commonly
when the first revulsion of feeling produced by satiety, went
off, the mere fact of continuing together if the woman had

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

anything lovable in her & the man was not wholly brutish,
could hardly fail to raise up some feeling of regard & attach-
ment. She obtained also, what is often far more precious to
her, the certainty of not being separated from the children.

Now if this be all that human life has for women, it is little
enough: and any woman who feels herself capable of great
happiness, and whose aspirations have not been artificially
checked, will claim to be set free from only this, to seek for
more. But women in general, as I have already remarked, are
more easily contented, and this I believe to be the cause of
the general aversion of women to the idea of facilitating
divorce. They have a habitual belief that their power over
men is chiefly derived from men's sensuality; & that the
same sensuality would go elsewhere in search of gratification,
unless restrained by law & opinion. They on their part,
mostly seek in marriage, a home, and the state or condition of
a married woman, with the addition or not as it may happen,
of a splendid establishment &c. &c. These things once
obtained, the indissolubility of marriage renders them sure of
keeping. And most women, either because these things give
them all the happiness they are capable of, or from the arti-
ficial barriers which curb all spontaneous movements to seek
their greatest felicity, are generally more anxious not to peril
the good they have than to go in search of a greater. If mar-
riage were dissoluble, they think they could not retain the
position once acquired; or not without practicing upon the
attention of men by those arts, disgusting in the extreme to
any woman of simplicity, by which a cunning mistress some-
times established & retains her ascendancy.

These considerations are nothing to an impassioned char-
acter ; but there is something in them, for the characters from
which they emanate — is not that so? The only conclusion,
however, which can be drawn from them, is one for which
there would exist ample grounds even if the law of marriage
as it now exists were perfection. This conclusion is, the
absurdity and immorality of a state of society & opinion in

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

which a woman is at all dependent for her social position
upon the fact of her being or not being married. Surely it is
wrong, wrong in every way, & on every view of morality,
even the vulgar view — that there should exist any motives to
marriage except the happiness which two persons who love
one another feel in associating their existence.

The means by which the condition of married women is
rendered artificially desirable, are not any superiority of legal
rights, for in that respect single women, especially if pos-
sessed of property, have the advantage: the civil disabilities
are greatest in the case of the married woman. It is not law,
but education and custom which make the difference.
Woman are so brought up, as not to be able to subsist in the
mere physical sense, without a man to keep them : they are so
brought up as not to be able to protect themselves against
injury or insult, without some man on whom they have a
special claim, to protect them: they are so brought up, as to
have no vocation or useful office to fulfil in the world, re-
maining single; for all women who are educated to be mar-
ried, & what little they are tought deserving the name useful,
is chiefly what in the ordinary course of things will not come
into actual use, unless nor until they are married. A single
woman therefore is felt both by herself & others as a kind of
excrescence on the surface of society, having no use or func-
tion or office there. She is not indeed precluded from useful
& honorable exertion of various kinds: but a married woman
is -presumed to be a useful member of society unless there is
evidence to the contrary; a single woman must establish
what very few either women or men ever do establish, an
individual claim.

All this, though not the less really absurd and immoral
even under the law of marriage which now exists, evidently
grows out of that law, and fits into the general state of society
of which that law forms a part, nor could continue to exist if
the law were changed, & marriage were not a contract at
all, or were an easily dissoluble one: The indissolubility of

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

marriage is the keystone of woman's present lot, and the
whole comes down and must be reconstructed if that is
removed.

And the truth is, that this question of marriage cannot
properly be considered by itself alone. The question is not
what marriage ought to be, but a far wider question, what
woman ought to be. Settle that first, and the other will settle
itself. Determine whether marriage is to be a relation be-
tween two equal beings, or between a superior & an inferior,
between a protector and a dependent ; & all other doubts will
easily be resolved.

But in this question there is surely no difficulty. There is
no natural inequality between the sexes; except perhaps in
bodily strength; even that admits of doubt: and if bodily
strength is to be the measure of superiority, mankind are no
better than savages. Every step in the progress of civilization
has tended to diminish the deference paid to bodily strength,
until now when that quality confers scarcely any advantages
except its natural ones : the strong man has little or no power
to employ his strength as a means of acquiring any other
advantage over the weaker in body. Every step in the pro-
gress of civilization has similarly been marked by a nearer
approach to equality in the condition of the sexes ; & if they
are still far from being equal, the hindrance is not now in the
difference of physical strength, but in artificial feelings and
prejudices.

If nature has not made men and women unequal, still less
ought the law to make them so. It may be assumed, as one of
those presuppositions which would almost be made weaker
by anything so ridiculous as attempting to prove them, that
men and women ought to be perfectly coequal : that a woman
ought not to be dependent on a man, more than a man on a
woman, except so far as their affections make them so, by a
voluntary surrender, renewed and renewing at each instant
by free & spontaneous choice.

But this perfect independence of each other for all save

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

affection, cannot be, if there be dependence in pecuniary cir-
cumstances; a dependence which in the immense majority of
cases must exist, if the woman be not capable, as well as the
man, of gaining her own subsistence.

The first and indispensable step, therefore, towards the
enfranchisement of woman, is that she be so educated, as not
to be dependent either on her father or her husband for sub-
sistence: a position which in nine cases out often, makes her
either the plaything or the slave of the man who feeds her; &
in the tenth case, only his humble friend. Let it not be said
that she has an equivalent and compensating advantage in
the exemption from toil : men think it base & servile in men
to accept food as the price of dependence, & why do they not
deem it so in women? solely because they do not desire that
women should be their equals. Where there is strong affec-
tion, dependence is its own reward : but it must be voluntary
dependence ; & the more perfectly voluntary it is, the more
exclusively each owes every thing to the other's affection &
to nothing else, — the greater is the happiness. And where
affection is not, the woman who will be dependent for the
sake of a maintenance, proves herself as low-minded as a man
in the like case — or would prove herself so if that resource
were not too often the only one her education has given her,
& if her education had not also tought her not to consider as
degradation, that which is the essence of all prostitution, the
act of delivering up her person for bread.

It does not follow that a woman should actually support
herself because she should be capable of doing so: in the
natural course of events she will not. It is not desirable to
burthen the labour market with a double number of com-
petitors. In a healthy state of things, the husband would be
able by his single exertions to earn all that is necessary for
both: & there would be no need that the wife should take
part in the mere providing of what is required to support life:
it will be for the happiness of both that her occupation should
rather be to adorn & beautify it. Except in the class of actual

j.s.m. 65 e

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

day-labourers, that will be her natural task, if task it can be
called, which will in so great a measure be accomplished
rather by being than by doing.

We have all heard the vulgar talk that the proper employ-
ment of a wife are household superintendance, and the edu-
cation of her children. As for household superintendance, if
nothing be meant but merely seeing that servants do their
duty, that is not an occupation ; every women that is capable
of doing it at all can do it without devoting anything like half
an hour every day to that purpose peculiarly. It is not like the
duty of a head of an office, to whom his subordinates bring
their work to be inspected when finished: the defects in the
performance of household duties present themselves to inspec-
tion: skill in superintendance consists in knowing the right
way of noticing a fault when it occurs, & giving reasonable
advice & instruction how to avoid it: and more depends on
establishing a good system at first, than upon a perpetual and
studious watchfulness. But if it be meant that the mistress of
a family shall herself do the work of servants, that is good &
will naturally take place in the rank in which there do not
exist the means of hiring servants ; but nowhere else.

Then as to the education of children : if by that term be
meant, instructing them in particular arts or particular
branches of knowledge, it is absurd to impose that upon
mothers : absurd in two ways : absurd to set one-half of the
adult human race to perform each on a small scale, what a
much smaller number of teachers would accomplish for all,
by devoting themselves exclusively to it; and absurd to set all
mothers doing that for which some persons must be fitter
than others, and for which average mothers cannot possibly
be so fit as persons trained to the profession. Here again,
when the means do not exist for hiring teachers, the mother
is the natural teacher: but no special provision needs to be
made for that case. Whether she is to teach or not, it is desir-
able that she should know; because knowledge is desirable for
its own sake ; for its uses, for its pleasures, & for its beautify-

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

ing influence when not cultivated to the neglect of other gifts.
What she knows, she will be able to teach to her children if
necessary: but to erect such teaching into her occupation
whether she can better employ herself or not, is absurd.

The education which it does belong to mothers to give, and
which if not imbibed from them is seldom obtained in any
perfection at all, is the training of the affections : & through
the affections, of the conscience, & the whole moral being.
But this most precious, & most indispensable part of educa-
tion, does not take up time; it is not a business, an occupation ;
& a mother does not accomplish it by sitting down with her
child for one or two or three hours to a task. She effects it by
being with the child; by making it happy, and therefore at
peace with all things; by checking bad habits in the com-
mencement & by loving the child & by making the child
love her. It is not by particular effects, but imperceptibly &
unconsciously that she makes her own character pass into the
child; that she makes the child love what she loves, venerate
what she venerates & imitate as far as a child can her ex-
ample. These things cannot be done by a hired teacher; &
they are better & greater than all the rest. But to impose
upon mothers what hired teachers can do, is mere squander-
ing of the glorious existence of a woman fit for a woman's
highest destiny. With regard to such things, her part is to see
that they are rightly done, not to do them.

The great occupation of woman should be to beautify life:
to cultivate, for her own sake & that of those who surround
her, all her faculties of mind, soul, and body; all her powers
of enjoyment, & powers of giving enjoyment; & to diffuse
beauty, elegance, & grace, everywhere. If in addition to this
the activity of her nature demands more energetic and defin-
ite employment, there is never any lack of it in the world: If
she loves, her natural impulse will be to associate her exis-
tence with him she loves, and to share his occupations; in
which, if he loves her (with that affection of equality which
alone deserves to be called love) she will naturally take as

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

strong an interest, & be as thoroughly conversant, as the
most perfect confidence on his side can make her.

Such will naturally be the occupations of a woman who has
fulfilled what seems to be considered as the end of her exis-
tence and attained what is really its happiest state, by uniting
herself to a man whom she loves. But whether so united or
not, women will never be what they should be, nor their
social position what it should be, until women, as universally
as men, have the power of gaining their own livelihood:
until, therefore, every girl's parents have either provided her
v/ith independent means of subsistence, or given her an edu-
cation qualifying her to provide those means for herself. The
only difference between the employments of women and
those of men will be, that those which partake most of the
beautiful, or which require delicacy & taste rather than mus-
cular exertion, will naturally fall to the share of women : all
branches of the fine arts in particular.

In considering, then, what is the best law of marriage, we
are to suppose that women already are, what they would be
in the best state of society; no less capable of existing inde-
pendently & respectably without men, than men without
women. Marriage, on whatever footing it might be placed,
would be wholly a matter of choice, not, as for a woman it
now is, something approaching to a matter of necessity;
something, at least, which every woman is under strong arti-
ficial motives to desire, and which if she attain not, her life is
considered to be a failure.

These suppositions being made: and it being no longer
any advantage to a woman to be married, merely for the sake
of being married: why should any woman cling to the indis-
solubility of marriage, as if it could be for the good of one
party that it should continue when the other party desires
that it should be dissolved?

It is not denied by anyone that there are numerous cases in
which the happiness of both parties would be greatly pro-
moted by a dissolution of marriage. We will add, that when

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

the social position of the two sexes shall be perfectly equal, a
divorce if it be for the happiness of either party, will be for
the happiness of both. No one but a sensualist would desire
to retain a merely animal connexion with a person of the
other sex, unless perfectly assured of being preferred by that
person, above all other persons in the world. This certainty
never can be quite perfect under the law of marriage as it now
exists: it would be nearly absolute, if the tie were merely
voluntary.

Not only there are, but it is in vain to hope that there will
not always be, innumerable cases, in which the first con-
nexion formed will be one the dissolution of which if it could
be, certainly would be & ought to be, effected: It has long
ago been remarked that of all the more serious acts of the life
of a human being, there is not one which is commonly per-
formed with so little of forethought or consideration, as that
which is irrevocable, & which is fuller of evil than any other
acts of the being's whole life if it turn out ill. And this is not
so astonishing as it seems: The imprudence, while the con-
tract remains indissoluble, consists in marrying at all: If you
do marry there is little wisdom shewn by a very anxious &
careful deliberation beforehand: Marriage is really, what it
has been sometimes called, a lottery : & whoever is in a state
of mind to calculate chances calmly & value them correctly,
is not at all likely to purchase a ticket. Those who marry
after taking great pains about the matter, generally do but
buy their disappointment dearer. Then (?) the failures in
marriage are such as are naturally incident to a first trial : the
parties are inexperienced & cannot judge. Nor does this evil
seem to be remediable. A woman is allowed to give herself
away for life, at an age at which she is not allowed to dispose
of the most inconsiderable landed estate: what then? if people
are not to marry until they have learnt prudence, they will
seldom marry before thirty : can this be expected, or is it to be
desired? To direct the immature judgment, there is the
advice of parents and guardians: a precious security! The

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

only thing which a young girl can do, worse than marrying
to please herself, is marrying to please any other person.
However paradoxical it may sound to the ears of those who
are reputed to have grown wise as wine grows good, by keep-
ings it is yet true, that A, an average person can better know
what is for his own happiness, than B, an average person can
know what is for A's happiness. Fathers & mothers as the
world is constituted, do not judge more wisely than sons &
daughters, they only judge differently: & the judgments of
both being of the ordinary strength, or rather of the ordinary
weakness, a person's own self has the advantage of a con-
siderable greater number of data to judge from, & the
further one of a stronger interest in the subject. Foolish
people will say, that being interested in the subject is a dis-
qualification: strange that they should not distinguish be-
tween being interested in a cause as a party before a judge,
i.e. interested in deciding one way, right or wrong, — &
being interested as a person is in the management of his own
property, interested in deciding right. The parties them-
selves are only interested in doing what is most for their
happiness; but their relatives may have all sorts of selfish
interests to promote by inducing them to marry or not to
marry.

The first choice, therefore, is made under very compli-
cated disadvantages. By the facts of its being the first the
parties are necessarily inexperienced in the particular matter:
they are commonly young (especially the party who is in the
greatest peril from a mistake) and therefore inexperienced
in the knowledge & judgment of mankind & of themselves
generally: and finally they have seldom had so much as an
opportunity offered them of gaining any real knowledge of
each other, since in nine cases out of ten they have never
been once in each other's society completely unconstrained,
or without consciously or unconsciously acting a part.

The chances therefore are many to one against the sup-
position that a person who requires, or is capable of, great

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

happiness, will find that happiness in a first choice: & in a
very large proportion of cases the first choice is such that if it
cannot be recalled, it only embitters existence. The reasons,
then, are most potent for allowing a subsequent change.

What there is to be said in favor of the indissolubility,
superstition apart, resolves itself into this that it is highly
desirable that changes should not be frequent, & desirable
that the first choice should be, even if not compulsorily, yet
very generally, persevered in : That consequently we ought
to beware lest in giving facilities for retracting a bad choice,
we hold out greater encouragement than at present for
making such a choice as there will probably be occasion to
retract.

It is proper to state as strongly as possible the arguments
which may be advanced in support of this view in question.

Repeated trials for happiness, and repeated failures, have
the most mischievous effects on all minds. The finer spirits
are broken down, & disgusted with all things : their suscepti-
bilities are deadened, or converted into sources of bitterness,
& they lose the power of being ever contented. On the com-
moner natures the effects produced are not the less deplor-
able. Not only is their capacity for happiness worn out, but
their morality is depraved: all refinement & delicacy of char-
acter is extinguished; all sense of any peculiar duties or of
any peculiar sacredness attaching to the relation between the
sexes is worn away: & such alliances come to be looked upon
with the very same kind of feelings which are now connected
with a passing intrigue.

Thus much as to the parties themselves: but besides the
parties there are also to be considered their children : beings
who are wholly dependent both for happiness and for excel-
lence upon their parents : & who in all but the extreme causes
of actual profligacy, or perpetual bickering and discussion,
must be better cared for in both points if their parents remain
together.

So much importance is due to this last consideration, that

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

I am convinced, if marriages were easily dissoluble, two
persons of opposite sexes who unite their destinies would
generally, if they were wise, think it their duty to avoid
having children until they had lived together for a consider-
able length of time, & found in each other a happiness
adequate to their aspirations. If this principle of morality
were observed, how many of the difficulties of the subject we
are considering would be smoothed down! To be jointly the
parents of a human being, should be the very last pledge of
the deepest, holiest, & most desirable affection : for that is a
tie which independently of convention, is indeed indis-
soluble: an additional & external tie, most precious where
the souls are already indissolubly united, but simply burthen-
some while it appears possible to either that they should ever
desire to separate.

It can hardly be anticipated, however, that such a course
will be followed by any but those who to the greatest loftiness
& delicacy of feeling, unite the power of the most deliberate
reflexion. If the feelings be obtuse, the force of these con-
siderations will not be felt; & if the judgment be weak or
hasty, whether from inherent defect or inexperience, people
will fancy themselves in love for their whole lives with a
perfect being, when the case is far otherwise, & will suppose
they risk nothing by creating a new relationship with that
being, which can no longer be got rid of. It will therefore
most commonly happen that when circumstances arise which
induce the parents to separate, there will be children to suffer
by the separation: nor do I see how this difficulty can be
entirely got over, until the habits of society allow of a regu-
lated community of living, among persons intimately ac-
quainted, which would prevent the necessity of a total
separation between the parents even when they had ceased
to be connected by any nearer tie than mutual goodwill, &
a common interest in their children.

There is yet another argument which may be urged
against facility of divorce. It is this. Most persons have but a

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

very moderate capacity of happiness; but no person ever
finds this out without experience, very few even with experi-
ence: & most persons are constantly wreaking (?) that dis-
content which has its source internally, upon outward things.
Expecting therefore in marriage a far greater degree of hap-
piness than they commonly find: & knowing not that the
fault is in their own scanty capabilities of happiness — they
fancy they should have been happier with some one else: or
at all events the disappointment becomes associated in their
minds with the being in whom they had placed their hopes —
& so they dislike one another for a time — & during that
time they would feel inclined to separate: but if they remain
united, the feeling of disappointment after a time goes off, &
they pass their lives together with fully as much happiness as
they could find either singly or in any other union, without
having undergone the wearing of repeated and unsuccessful
experiments.

Such are the arguments for adhering to the indissolubility
of the contract : & for such characters as compose the great
majority of the human race, it is not deniable that these argu-
ments have considerable weight.

That weight however is not so great as it appears. In all
the above arguments it is tacitly assumed, that the choice lies
between the absolute interdiction of divorce, & a state of
things in which the parties would separate on the most pass-
ing feeling of dissatisfaction." Now this is not really the alter-
native. Were divorce ever so free, it would be resorted to
under the same sense of moral responsibility & under the
same restraints from opinion, as any other of the acts of our
lives. In no state of society but one in which opinions sanc-
tions almost promiscuous intercourse (& in which therefore
even the indissoluble bond is not practically regarded), would
it be otherwise than disreputable to either party, the woman
especially, to change frequently or on light grounds. My
belief is that- — in a tolerably moral state of society, the first
choice would almost always, especially where it had produced

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

children, be adhered to, unless in case of such uncongeniality
of disposition as rendered it positively uncomfortable to one
or both of the parties to live together, or in case of a strong
passion conceived by one of them for a third person. Now in
either of these cases I can conceive no argument strong
enough to convince me, that the first connexion ought to be
forcibly preserved.

I see not why opinion should not act as great efficacy, to
enforce the true rules of morality in these matters, as the
false. Robert Owen's definitions3 of chastity & prostitution,
are quite as simple & take as firm a hold of the mind as the
vulgar ones which connect the ideas of virtue & vice with the
performance or non-performance of an arbitrary ceremonial.

The arguments, therefore, in favour of the indissolubility
of marriage, are as nothing in comparison with the far more
potent arguments for leaving this like the other relations
voluntarily contracted by human beings, to depend for its
continuance upon the wishes of the contracting parties. The
strongest of all these arguments is that by no other means
can the condition & character of women become what it
ought to be.

When women are merely slaves, to give them a permanent
hold upon their masters was a first step towards their evolu-
tion. That step is now complete: & in the progress of civil-
ization, the time has come when women may aspire to some-
thing more than merely to find a protector. The position of a
single woman has ceased to be dangerous & precarious; &
the law, & general opinion, suffice without any more special
guardianship, to shield her in ordinary circumstances from
insult or inquiry: woman in short is no longer a mere pro-
perty, but a person who is counted not solely on her hus-
band's or father's account but on her own. She is now ripe
for equality. But it is absurd to talk of equality while mar-
riage is an indissoluble tie. It was a change greatly for the
better, from a state in which all the obligation was on the side
of the weaker, all the rights on the side of the physically

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

stronger, to even the present condition of an obligation
nominally equal on both. But this nominal equality is not real
equality. The stronger is always able to relieve himself wholly
or in great measure, from as much of the obligation as he
finds burthensome: the weaker cannot. The husband can ill-
use his wife, neglect her, and seek other women, not perhaps
altogether with impunity, but what are the penalties which
opinion imposes on him compared with those which fall upon
the wife who even with that provocation retaliates upon her
husband? It is true perhaps that if divorce were permitted,
opinion would with like injustice, try the wife who resorted
to that remedy by a harder measure (?) than the husband.
But this would be of less consequence: Once separated she
would be comparatively independent of opinion : but so long
as she is forcibly united to one of those who make the opinion,
she must to a great extent be its slave.

Several scraps or drafts of Harriet Taylor on the same subject have
been preserved of which the following is the most complete and may
well be the one which in fulfilment of her promise she gave to Mill.4

If I could be Providence for the world for a time, for the
express purpose of raising the condition of women, I should
come to you to know the means — the purpose would be to
remove all interference with affection, or with anything
which is, or which even might be supposed to be, demonstra-
tive of affection. In the present state of women's mind, per-
fectly uneducated, and with whatever of timidity & depend-
ence is natural to them increased a thousand fold by their
habit of utter dependence, it would probably be mischievous
to remove at once all restraints, they would buy themselves
protectors at a dearer cost than even at present — but with-
out raising their natures at all. it seems to me that once
give women the desire to raise their social condition, and
they have a power which in the present state of civilization &
of men's characters, might be made of tremendous effect.
Whether nature made a difference in the nature of men &

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

women or not, it seems now that all men, with the exception
of a few lofty minded,% are sensualists more or less — women
on the contrary are quite exempt from this trait, however it
may appear otherwise in the cases of some. It seems strange
that it should be so, unless it was meant to be a source of
power in semi-civilized states such as the present — or it may
not be so — it may be only that the habits of freedom & low
indulgence on which boys grow up and the contrary notion
of what is called purity in girls may have produced the
appearance of different natures in the two sexes. As certain it
is that there is equality in nothing now — all the pleasures
such as they are being men's, & all the disagreeables & pains
being women's, as that every pleasure wd be infinitely height-
ened both in kind & degree by the perfect equality of the
sexes. Women are educated for one single object, to gain
their living by marrying — (some poor souls get it without
the churchgoing. It's the same way — they do not seem to be
a bit worse than their honoured sisters). To be married is the
object of their existence and that object being gained they do
really cease to exist as to anything worth calling life or any
useful purpose. One observes very few marriages where there
is any real sympathy or enjoyment or companionship be-
tween the parties. The woman knows what her power is and
gains by it what she has been tought to consider 'proper' to
her state. The woman who wd gain power by such means is
unfit for power, still they do lose (?) this power for paltry
advantages and I am astonished it has never occurred to them
to gain some large purpose; but their minds are degenerated
by habits of dependance. I should think that 500 years hence
none of the follies of their ancestors will so excite wonder and
contempt as the fact of legislative restraints as to matters of
feeling — or rather in the expression of feeling. When once
the law undertakes to say which demonstration of feeling
shall be given to which, it seems quite consistent not to legis-
late for <?//, and to say how many shall be seen & how many
heard, & what kind & degree of feeling allows of shaking

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 1832

hands. The Turks' is the only consistent mode. I have no
doubt that when the whole community is really educated,
tho' the present laws of marriage were to continue they would
be perfectly disregarded, because no one would marry. The
wisest & perhaps the quickest means to do away with its
evils is to be found in promoting education — as it is the
means of all good — but meanwhile it is hard that those who
suffer most from its evils and who are always the best people,
should be left without remedy. Would not the best plan be
divorce which could be attained by any without any reason
assigned, and at small expence, but which could only be
finally pronounced after a long period? not less time than two
years should elapse between suing for divorce & permission
to contract again — but what the decision will be must be
certain at the moment of asking for it — unless during that
time the suit should be withdrawn.

(I feel like a lawyer in talking of it only! O how absurd and
little it all is!)

In the present system of habits & opinions, girls enter
into what is called a contract perfectly ignorant of the condi-
tions of it, and that they should be so is considered absolutely
essential to their fitness for it!

But after all the one argument of the matter which I think
might be said so as to strike both high & low natures is —
who would wish to have the person without inclination?
Whoever would take the benefit of a law of divorce must be
those whose inclination is to separate and who on earth
would wish another to remain with them against their in-
clination— I shd think no one — people sophisticate about the
matter now & will not believe that one 'really would wish to
go' ! Suppose instead of calling it a 'law of divorce' it were to
be called 'Proof of affection' — they would like it better then.

At this present time, in this state of civilization, what evil
could be caused by, first placing women on the most entire
equality with men, as to all rights and privileges, civil and
political, and then doing away with all laws whatever relating

1832 ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

to marriage? Then if a woman had children she must take
charge of them, women could not then have children without
considering how to maintain them. Women would have no
more reason to barter person for bread, or for anything else,
than have men. Public offices being open to them alike, all
occupations would be divided between the sexes in their
natural arrangements. Fathers would provide for their
daughters in the same manner as for their sons.

All the difficulties about divorce seem to be in the con-
sideration for the children — but on this plan it would be the
women's interest not to have children — now it is thought to
be the woman's interest to have children as so many ties to
the man who feeds her.

Love in its true and finest meaning, seems to be the way
in which is manifested all that is highest best and beautiful
in the nature of human beings — none but poets have
approached to the perception of the beauty of the material
world — still less of the spiritual — and hence never yet existed
a poet, except by inspiration of that feeling which is the per-
ception of beauty in all forms & by all means wh are given us,
as well as by sight. Are we not born with the five senses,
merely as a foundation for others w11 we may make by them
— and who extends and refines those material senses to the
highest — into infinity — best fulfils the end of creation — that
is only saying, who enjoys most is most virtuous. It is for you — ■
the most worthy to be the apostle of all the highest virtues to
teach such as may be tought, that the higher the kind of
enjoyment, the greater the degree, perhaps there is but one
class to whom this can be tought — the poetic nature struggling
with superstition : you are fitted to be the saviour of such.

Chapter Four

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

1 8 3 4- 1 8 4 2

uch of the information we have about Mill and Harriet
Taylor during the early years after their friendship had
. become intimate comes at second hand. For a few years in
the middle of the 1830's they apparently made little attempt to conceal
their intimacy until they became aware of the inevitable gossip which
they had caused and withdrew almost completely from all social con-
tacts. At that early stage Mill introduced Mrs. Taylor to a few friends,
particularly the Carlyles, and it is from their numerous and in the later
years not always too friendly comments that the now generally accepted
picture of their relationship is mainly derived. It may be useful to inter-
rupt the presentation of the new manuscript material and to bring
together in a separate chapter the more important references by con-
temporaries.

The story told by John Roebuck, who for about ten years had been
one of Mill's most intimate friends and who seems to have been the
first with whom he broke completely on account of Mrs. Taylor, is
characteristic. Roebuck had been present at the dinner party at which
Mill first met Mrs. Taylor, but then lost sight of her until at a party
at Mrs. Buller's, the mother of Mill's friend Charles Buller, he one
day saw

'Mill enter the room with Mrs. Taylor hanging on his arm. The
manner of the lady, the evident devotion of the gentleman, soon
attracted universal attention, and a suppressed titter went round the

1834 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

room. My affection for Mill was so warm and sincere that I was hurt
by anything which brought ridicule upon him. I saw, or thought I
saw, how mischievous might be this affair, and as we had become in all
things like brothers, I determined, most unwisely, to speak to him on
the subject.'1

Roebuck goes on to tell how he went to see Mill at India House to
remonstrate with him, how Mill silently listened but by the reception
he gave him on the next occasion made it clear that he regarded their
friendship at an end.

We do not know precisely when this incident occurred, but by the
spring of 1834 the connexion seems to have been freely talked about
among Mill's friends. It was the first piece of gossip which the Carlyles
then learnt on their return to London after two years' absence. They
both in their inimitable ways at once passed on the news to Carlyle's
brother in Italy, and then kept him abreast of developments when they
themselves made the new acquaintance.

Thomas Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle^ May 1834:2 Mrs.
Austin had a tragical story of his [John Mill's] having fallen
desperately in love with some young philosophic beauty (yet
with the innocence of two sucking doves), and being lost to
all his friends and to himself, and what not; but I traced
nothing of this in poor Mill ; and even incline to think that
what truth there is or was in the adventure may have done
him good. Buller also spoke of it, but in the comic vein.

Jane Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle^ May 1834: The most
important item [of news learnt from Mrs. John Austin] was
that a young Mrs. Taylor, tho' encumbered with a husband
and children, has ogled John Mill successfully so that he was
desperately in love.

Thomas Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle^ 22 July 18 34 :z Our
most interesting new friend is a Mrs. Taylor, who came here
for the first time yesterday, and stayed long. She is a living
romance heroine, of the clearest insight, of the royalest voli-
tion, very interesting, of questionable destiny, not above
twenty-five. Jane is to go and pass a day with her soon, being
greatly taken with her.

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP 1834

Of course, Mrs. Taylor was nearly twenty-seven at the time.
Apparently Jane went, and a fortnight later we get another report.

Thomas Carlyle to his Mother, 5 August 1834* We have
made, at least Jane has made, a most promising acquaintance,
of a Mrs. Taylor; a young beautiful reader of mine and
'dearest friend' of Mill's, who for the present seems 'all that
is noble' and what not. We shall see how that wears. We are
to dine there on Tuesday and meet a new set of persons, said
among other qualities, to be interested in me. The editor of
the Fox Repository (Fox himself) is the main man I care for.

Thomas Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle, 15 August 1834 ;5 We
dined with Mrs. (Platonica) Taylor and the Unitarian Fox
(of the Repository if you know it) one day : Mill was also of
the party, and the husband, an obtuse, most joyous natured
man, the pink of social hospitality. Mrs. Taylor herself did
not yield unmixed satisfaction, or receive it. She affects, with
a kind of sultana noble-mindedness, a certain girlish petu-
lance, and felt that it did not wholly prosper. We walked
home, however, even Jane did, all the way from Regent's
Park, and felt that we had done a duty. For me, from the
Socinians, as I take it, wird Nichts. Here too let me wind up
the Radical-Periodical Editorship6 which your last letter
naturally speculates upon. Mill I seem to discern has given it
to this same Fox (who has just quitted his preachership and
will, like myself, be out on the world) ; partly I should fancy
by Mrs. Taylor's influence, partly as himself thinking him
the safer man.

A few weeks later, on the 8 th of September, the Carlyles set out to
call on Mrs. Taylor, but before reaching her house he broke down on
a seat in Regent's Park when7 'Mrs. Taylor with her husband make
their appearance, walking; pale she, and passionate and sad-looking:
really felt a kind of interest in her'.

When shortly afterwards Sartor Resartus appeared, a copy was pre-
sented to Mrs. Taylor by the author, whose interest in her was however
not unmixed with concern for Mill.

J.S.M. 81 F

1835 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

Thomas Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle, 28 October 1834* Mill
himself, who were the best of them all [of Mill's usual set] is
greatly occupied of late times with a set of quite opposite
character, which the Austins and other friends mourn much
and fear much over. It is the fairest Mrs. Taylor you have
heard of; with whom, under her husband's very eyes, he is
(Platonically) over head and ears in love. Round her come
Fox the Socinian and a flight of really wretched looking
'friends of the species', who (in writing and deed) struggle
not in favour of Duty being done, but against Duty of any sort
almost being required. A singular creed this ; but I can assure
you a very observable one here in these days : by me 'deeply
hated as the GLAR,9 which is its colour (die seine Farbe ist),'
and substance likewise mainly. Jane and I often say: 'Before
all mortals, beware of a friend of the species!' Most of these
people are very indignant at marriage and the like; and fre-
quently indeed are obliged to divorce their own wives, or be
divorced : for though the world is already blooming (or is one
day to do it) in everlasting 'happiness of the greatest number',
these people's own houses (I always find) are little Hells of
improvidence, discord, unreason. Mill is far above all that,
and I think will not sink in it; however, I do wish him fairly
far from it, and though I cannot speak of it directly would
fain help him out: he is one of the best people I ever saw
and — surprisingly attached to me, which is another merit.

At the beginning of the next year Mrs. Taylor appears again in the
Carlyle letters.

Jane Welsh Carlyle to Dr. John Carlyle, 12 January 1835 ;10
There is a Mrs. Taylor whom I could really love, if it were
safe and she were willing; but she is a dangerous looking
woman and engrossed with a dangerous passion, and no use-
ful relation can spring up between us.

Thomas Carlyle to Alexander Carlyle, 2j February 183$ :u
The party we had at the Taylors' was most brisk, the clever-

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP 1835

est (best gifted) I have been at for years: Mill, Charles
Buller (one of the gayest, lightly sparkling, lovable souls in
the world), Repository Fox (who hotches12 and laughs at least),
Fonblanque, the Examiner editor, were the main men. It does
one good ; though I buy it dear, dining so late : towards eight
o'clock!

These friendly relations could not but be somewhat clouded by the
famous incident which occurred a few days later, however admirable
the spirit in which Carlyle at first bore the blow. Mill had shortly
before borrowed the manuscript of the first volume of Carlyle's French
Revolution and on 6 March had to go and break to Carlyle the news
that the whole manuscript had been accidentally burnt. He arrived at
the Carlyle's house in the evening in a carriage with Mrs. Taylor and
rushing up the steps alone at first merely begged Mrs. Carlyle to go
down and speak to Mrs. Taylor. Although it is probably later em-
broidery that on first seeing the carriage Mrs. Carlyle exclaimed to her
husband, 'Gracious Providence, he has gone off with Mrs. Taylor',13
this seems indeed to have been so much the first thought of both the
Carlyles that they appear to have been curiously relieved when they
learnt the true reason for the visit. After Mrs. Taylor drove off Mill
sat with the Carlyles until late at night while they did what they could
to assure him that the loss was not too serious. Later, however, they
seem to have conceived the idea that Mrs. Taylor was responsible for
the destruction of the manuscript and their various hints to that effect14
were later exaggerated by others into the scarcely veiled allegation that
Mrs. Taylor had deliberately destroyed it. Any suggestion that Mrs.
Taylor was responsible for the accident seems however to be clearly
disproved by the very letter of Mill's in which he told Carlyle that
Mrs. Taylor had also seen the manuscript and which appears to have
been the basis for their later suspicions. Mill, the most truthful of
persons, would certainly not have written as he did a few days after the
catastrophe in refusing Carlyle's good-natured offer to lend him the
manuscript of part of the second volume of the French Revolution,
'provided you durst take it'.15

J. S. M. to Thomas Carlyle, 10 March 18 3 516; I will not take
the Fete des Piques — not that I believe such a thing could
possibly happen again, but for the sake of retributive justice

1836 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

I would bear the badge of my untrustworthiness. If however
you would give me the pleasure of reading it give it to Mrs.
Taylor — in her custody no harm could come to it — and I can
read it aloud to her as I did much of the other — for it had not
only the one reader you mention but a second just as good.

Carlyle, however, seems not to have accepted this suggestion and Mill
to have seen no more in manuscript. For a while cordial relations con-
tinued not only with Mill but also with Mrs. Taylor.17 But after 1 835
Mrs. Taylor's illness and absence from town during the greater part
of the year prevented much further contact and perhaps there also
occurred about that time a definite clash between the two ladies which
strained the relations. Something like that at least is suggested in
Carlyle's Reminiscences when he says that Mrs. Taylor had

'at first. considered my Jane to be a rustic spirit fit for rather tutoring
and twirling about when the humour took her; but got taught better
(to her lasting memory) before long.'18

Mill's regular visits and Sunday walks with Carlyle, however, con-
tinued for some years. In the spring of 1836 we find Mrs. Carlyle
greatly concerned about the news of two of their 'dearest friends' John
Mill and John Sterling being 'dangerously ill'.19 A little later, soon after
James Mill's death and shortly before Mill left for France in the
summer of the same year, Carlyle visited the Mills at their summer
house in Mickleham near Dorking in Surrey and sent a full report to
his wife in Scotland.

Thomas Carlyle to Jane Welsh Carlyle, Chelsea, 24 July
1836 :20 There was little sorrow visible in their house, or
rather none, nor any human feeling at all ; but the strangest
unheimlich kind of composure and acquiescence, as if all
human spontaneity had taken refuge in invisible corners.
Mill himself talked much, and not stupidly — far from that —
but without emotion of any discernible kind. He seemed to
me withered into the miserablest metaphysical scrae,21 body
and mind, that I had almost ever met with in the world. His
eyes go twinkling and jerking with wild lights and twitches;
his head is bald, his face brown and dry — poor fellow after

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP 1836

all. It seemed to me the strangest thing what this man could
want with me, or I with such a man so unheimlich to me.
What will become of it? Nothing evil; for there is and there
was nothing dishonest in it. But I think I shall see less and
less of him. Alas, poor fellow! It seems possible too that he
may not be very long seeable : that is one way of its ending.

It is difficult to remember that Mill, of whom Carlyle here speaks,
had only a few weeks before completed his thirtieth birthday. Mrs.
Carlyle's reply to this deserves also to be quoted.

Jane Welsh Carlyle to Thomas Carlyle, 2 August 1836 :22
Poor Mill ! He really seems to have 'loved and lived' ; his very
intellect seems to be failing him in its strongest point: — his
implicit admiration and subjection to you.

For a time after Mill's departure what news Carlyle had about his
movements on the Continent came at second hand and Carlyle lost no
time in passing on the gossip which made the round.

Thomas Carlyle to John Sterling, 3 October 1836 :23 Mill,
they say, writes from Nice : he is not going into Italy, owing
to the Cholera and quarantine : his health is little, and but a
little, improved. Mrs. Taylor, it is whispered, is with him, or
near him. Is it not strange, this pining away into dessication
and nonentity, of our poor Mill, if it be so, as his friends all
say, that his charmer is the cause of it? I have not seen any
riddle of human life which I could so ill form a theory of.
They are innocent says Charity : they are guilty says Scandal :
then why in the name of wonder are they dying broken-
hearted? One thing only is painfully clear to me, that poor
Mill is in a bad way. Alas, tho' he speaks not, perhaps his
tragedy is more tragical than that of any of us : this very item
that he does not speak, that he never could speak, but was to
sit imprisoned as in the thick ribbed ice, voiceless, uncom-
municating, is it not the most tragical circumstance of all?

Six days later, however, a long and friendly letter was despatched by
Carlyle to Mill at Nice on the urging of their common friend Horace

i839 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

Grant.24 On Mill's return in November close contacts were promptly
resumed and for another year or so, mainly in connexion with the
London and Westminster Review, continued fairly regular if less cordial
than before.

Thomas Carlyle to John Sterlings ij January 1837 :25 John
Mill, as perhaps you know, is home again, in better health,
still not in good. I saw him the day before yesterday, sitting
desolate under an Influenza we all have. I on the whole see
little of him. He toils greatly in his Review; sore bested with
mismanaging Editors, Radical discrepancies, and so forth.
His Platonica and he are constant as ever: innocent I do
believe as sucking doves, and yet suffering the clack of
tongues, worst penalty of guilt. It is very hard; and for Mill
especially as unlucky as ever. The set of people he is in is one
I have to keep out of. No class of mortals ever profited me
less. There is a vociferous platitude in them, a mangy hungry
discontent, — their very joy like that of a thing scratching
itself under disease of the itch ! Mill was infinitely too good
for them; but he would have it, and his fate would. I love
him much, as a friend frozen within ice for me.

In 1838 they evidently drifted apart.26 When Mill left again for
Italy at the end of that year he seems to have given the Carlyles as his
other friends to understand that he was going to Malta, but as both
Carlyle's brother John and John Sterling were at Rome27 at the time
and seem to have seen Mill, the pretence, if kept up at all, cannot have
been effective for long. Though Carlyle, once more at the urging of
Horace Grant, sends a long epistle to Rome,28 his comments to Sterling
when he meets Mill some time after the latter had returned are in a
changed tone.

Thomas Carlyle to John Sterling, 29 September 18 59 :29 Mill,
whom I had not seen till that day (before yesterday) at the
India House, was looking but indifferently; he confessed not
to be sensibly better at all by his last year's journeying. Mrs.
Taylor he further volunteered to tell me, is not living in the
old abode in the Regent's Park, but in Wilton Place, a street

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP 1842

where as I conjecture there are mainly wont to be Lodgings.
Can it be possible? Or if so, what does it betoken. I am truly
sorry for Mill : he has been a most luckless man since I came
hither, seeming to himself all the way to be a lucky one
rather.

This is a rather bad instance of careless gossip on the part of Carlyle.
It is true that after her return from Italy Mrs. Taylor lived for a time
at 24 Wilton Place, Belsize Square. But so did Mr. Taylor.30 They
had probably either let or closed their house in Kent Terrace because of
Mrs. Taylor's long absence, or the house was merely being redecorated.
There is no sign whatever that in town Mrs. Taylor ever lived apart
from her husband, although of course her stays in her husband's house
seem to have been little more than occasional visits between her
sojourns in the country.

In 1 841 Mill appears to have sent to Carlyle Sarah Flower Adams'
drama Vivid Perpetua with a request to express his opinion on it to
Mrs. Taylor, but before Carlyle can write to her he has to enquire
from Mill her address.31 In the following year Mrs. Taylor approached
Carlyle in a different matter.

H. T. to Thomas Car/yk:*2 Walton, July 9 (i842)/Dear
Mr. Carlyle/ 1 am going to ask you to do for me what if you
consent to, I shall feel to be a great favour.

It is to be trustee to a little settlement made at the time of
my marriage upon me & upon the children, of the present
two trustees, one, a Mr. Travers, a brother in law of Mr.
Taylor's, is going to leave England to live abroad & I am
anxious to have the vacancy filled so that I shall leave this
portion of my young ones interests in the surest hands. Au
reste it is a very simple matter & could in no way cause any
trouble or inconvenience, otherwise I should hardly feel
entitled to ask it. May I hope that you will not disappoint
me in this?

Dear Mr. Carlyle

Most truly fs

H. Taylor
87

1842 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

Pray present my kind regards to Mrs. Carlyle. Mr.
Taylor joins in this request and proposes to take an early
opportunity for calling at Chelsea to make it in person.

In reply to this and to Mr. Taylor's personal appeal Carlyle could
truthfully plead in a letter of four days later that Mrs. Taylor could not
find 'any person, possessed of common sense and arrived at years of
discretion, who is so totally unacquainted with every form of what is
called Business' as he himself was.33 To make sure that he would
escape the unwelcome burden he offered to walk over from Richmond
to her house at Walton to talk the matter over. This produced an
invitation and Carlyle together with Mill spent two days at Walton.34

Although a few more notes were exchanged between Mill and Carlyle
after this, and an inscribed copy of Past and Present was sent by the
author to Mrs. Taylor when it appeared in 1843,35 the relations seem
to have become very superficial even before at last some of Carlyle's
talk about them came to their ears. In October 1846 the break
became open: when Carlyle went to call on Mill at India House to ask
him to a dinner he was giving in honour of an American visitor, and
met Mill on the way in the street, 'he received me like the very incar-
nation o' the East Wind, and refused my invitation peremptorily.'36
That seems for many years to have been the end of their regular inter-
course.37 After Mill's marriage some superficial contacts appear to have
been resumed and even the two ladies once more to have met. At least
Mrs. Carlyle's last recorded comment on Mrs. Mill seems to refer to
some date after the Mills were married. In a conversation with Gavan
Duffy in 1851 she described Mrs. Mill as

'a peculiarly affected and empty body. She is not easy unless she startles
you with unexpected sayings. If she was going to utter something kind
and affectionate, she speaks in a hard, stern voice. If she wants to be
alarming or uncivil, she employs the most honeyed and affectionate
tones. "Come down to see us" she said one day (mimicking her tone),
"You will be charmed with our house, it is so full of rats." "Rats!"
cried Carlyle, "Do you regard them as an attraction?" "Yes" (piano),
"They are such dear, innocent creatures." ' 38

Carlyle never seems to have quite understood that it had been his
unrestrained talk about Mill and Mrs. Taylor which had caused the

FRIENDS AND GOSSIP 1842

estrangement, and even many years later his remarks to C. E. Norton
when he received the news of Mill's death show that he only half
suspected what was undoubtedly the truth :

'Many's the time I've thought o' writin' to him and savin' "John
Mill, what is it that parts you and me?" But that's all over now. Never
could I think of the least thing, unless maybe it was this. One year the
brother o' that man Cavaignac who was ruler for a time in France, —
Godefroi Cavaignac, a man o' more capacity than his brother, — was
over here from Paris, an' he told me o' meeting Mill and Mrs. Taylor
somewhere in France not long before, eatin' grapes together off o' one
bunch, like two love birds. And his description amused me, and I
repeated it, without thinking any harm, to a man who was not always
to be trusted, [Charles Buller], a man who made trouble with his
tongue, and I've thought he might perhaps have told it to Mill, and
that Mill might have fancied that I was making a jest o' what was most
sacred to him; but I don't know if it was it, but it was the only thing I
could ever think of that could ha' hurt him.39

Carlyle's letters show that this was probably not the only occasion
when he had talked rather freely on the matter. It seems at any rate
that at some time in the middle 'forties Mill and Mrs. Taylor had
suddenly become aware of the talk that was going on about them and
not only broke radically with all those whom they suspected of gossip
but altogether withdrew from society. To have offended in this con-
nexion was the one thing that Mill never forgave. His intimate
motherly friend Sarah Austin, who had taught him German when
he was fifteen and whom for twenty years afterwards he had regularly
addressed in his frequent letters as his Liebes Miitterlein^ he seems to
have regarded, probably with some justification, as the chief offender.
She was not only well known as a gossip but also in a special position
to know since for some years the Austins had lived at Regent's Park
with their garden adjoining that of the Taylors and separated from it
only by a hedge through which the children were constantly creeping.40
In her case the ban was so complete that the mere fact that the Austins
had come to live in the neighbourhood was in 1848 sufficient reason
for Mrs. Taylor not wishing again to go to Walton.41 Even after his
wife's death, in 1859, when John Austin died, Mill could still not
bring himself to write to her an ordinary letter of condolence but wrote
instead to her granddaughter Janet Duff Gordon (a girl of seventeen

j.s.m. 89 G

1842 FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

living at the time with Mrs. Austin), who later described how 'the
evidently intentional slight cut her to the heart'.42

Another old acquaintance who had even better grounds for knowing
the whole history of the relationship and who talked freely about it,
Harriet Martineau, became the object of Mill's most intense dislike.
Two other ladies who at one time had known Mill well, Mrs. Grote
and Harriet Baring (Lady Ashburton), fared not much better. And a
number of other persons appear for the same reason to have been
placed under a complete ban.

Chapter Five

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

1834-1847

'he survey of the accounts given by contemporaries has led us
far beyond the date at which we interrupted the presentation
.. of the main documents. We must return to the time when,
after Harriet Taylor's return from Paris, some new modus vivendi was
agreed between her and her husband. It seems not probable, however,
that the more stable form which her relationship to Mill ultimately
assumed was at once found. The few fragments of correspondence
which we have for the years immediately following this return give
glimpses of recurring internal and external difficulties. Very few of the
notes which seem to belong to the next two or three years can be
dated with certainty. But what is probably the earliest happens to be
dated.

H. T. to J. S. M. (f), 20 February 1834 :x Happiness has
become to me a word without meaning — or rather the mean-
ing of the word has no existence in my belief. I mean by
Happiness the state wh I can remember to have been in
when I consciously used the word — a state of satisfaction, by
satisfaction meaning not only the mind made up, not only
having conviction of some sort on every large subject, but
cheerful hopeful faith about all wh I could contemplate and
not understand & this along with the great & conscious
enjoyment from my own emotions and sensations — that

1834 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

happiness I had often a year ago — I believe that if the world
were as well directed as human beings might direct it, & may-
be expected to direct it, that all might be Happy, in pro-
portion to their capacity for Happiness & that those with
great capacity might be actually happy — live in a satisfied
state, without need for more but with, for their forward view,
a placid contemplation of the probability of still greater
capacity in some other existence — I do not believe I shall ever
again feel that — the most this world can do for me is to give
present enjoyment sufficient to make me forget that there is
nothing else worth seeking — for the great mass of peoples I
think wisdom would be to make the utmost of sensation
while they are young enough & then die — for the very few
who seem to have an innate incomprehensible capacity of
emotion, more enjoyable than any sensation but consistent
(?) with & adding to all pleasurable sensation for such //"such
there be wh. I greatly doubt, their wisdom like the others is
to live out their pleasures & die — now I believe that such
being wd not cd not live out those enjoyments but that I think
is because they come to them late thro' struggle & suffering
generally, wh gives an artificial depth and tenacity to their
feeling, for those who come to such feelings at all are those of
the most imagination — & so hold them firmest. I do not
believe affection to be natural to human beings — it is an
instinct of the lower animals for their young — but in humans
it is a made up combination of feelings & associations wh
will cease to exist when artificiality ceases to exist, only
passion is natural that is temporary affection — but what we
call affection will continue so long as there is dependance.

During the next few months some passages of Mill's letters to
W. J. Fox give us some indication of the prevailing state of affairs.
The other two members of the group mentioned in the first were
probably Eliza and Sarah Flower.

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, about April 1834:2 I hope we shall
meet oftener — we four or rather five — as we did on Tuesday

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THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1834

— I do not see half enough of you — and I do not, half
enough, see anybody along with her — that I think is chiefly
what is wanting now — that, and other things like it.

J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, 26 June 1834 :z Our affairs have been
gradually getting into a more & more unsatisfactory state —
and are now in a state which, a very short time ago, would
have made me quite miserable] but now I am altogether in
a higher state than I was & better able to conquer evil & to
bear it. I will tell you all about it some day — perhaps the first
time we meet — but by that time perhaps the atmosphere will
be clearer. — adieu —

I have not spoken to you about our affairs lately, as I did
while she was away; partly because I did not need so much to
give confidence & ask support when she was with me, partly
because I know you disapprove & cannot enter with the
present relation between her & me & him. but a time
perhaps is coming when I shall need your kindness more
than ever — if so, I know I shall always have it.

The remaining notes exchanged between Mill and Mrs. Taylor
which seem to belong to this time must be given in a more or less
arbitrary order.

J. S. M. to H. T..A I have been made most uncomfortable
all day by your dear letter sweet & loving as it was dearest
one — because of your having had that pain — & because of
my having given you pain. You cannot imagine dearest how
very much it grieves me now when even a small thing goes
wrong now that thank heaven it does not often happen so, &
therefore always happens unexpectedly. As for my saying 'do
not let us talk of that now' I have not the remotest recollec-
tion of my having said so, or what it was that I did not want
to talk about — but I am sure that it was something which I
considered to be settled & done with long ago, & therefore
not worth talking any more about, a reason which you your-
self so continually express for not explaining to me or telling

1834 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

me about impressions of yours, uncertainty about the nature
of which is tormenting me — & I have latterly learnt suffi-
cient selfsacrifice, sometimes to yield to that feeling, & leave
off asking you questions which you tell me it is unpleasant to
you to answer. But whatever it was that we were talking about
on the common I am sure if I had thought that anything
remained to be said about it, much more if I had thought
that such a matter as whether we can or cannot be in complete
sympathy, had depended on what remained unsaid, I should
have been a great deal more anxious to have everything said,
than you would have been to say it. O my own love, if you
were beginning to say something which you had been think-
ing for days or weeks, why did you not tell me so? why did
you not make me feel that you were saying what was im-
portant to you, & what had not been said or had not been
exhausted before? I am writing you in complete ignorance
about what it was — but I am sure that I have tormented you
enough & long enough by refusing to acquiesce in your
seemingly determined resolution that there should be radical
differences of some sort in some of our feelings, and now
having found (?), & convinced you, that there are none that
need make us unhappy, I have learnt from you to be able to
bear that there should be some — consisting chiefly in the
want of some feelings in me which you have. But I thought
we perfectly knew & understood what those were, & that
neither of us saw any good in discussing them further — &
when I ask you questions which you do not like to answer, it
is only to know what is paining you at the time — not mean-
ing to discuss feelings any more if it is feelings and not facts
that are annoying you.

I know darling it is very doubtful if you will get this before
I see you — but I cannot help writing it & perhaps I shall feel
easier afterwards, at present I feel utterly unnerved & quite
unfit for thinking or writing or any business — but I shall get
better, & don't let it make you uncomfortable mine own —
o you dear one.

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1834

Below the last four words which Mill had enclosed between two
lines at the foot of his letter there is a further line in Harriet Taylor's
hand: 'my own adored one!'.

H. T. to J. S. M.:5 I don't know why I was so low when
you went this morning. I was so LOW I could not bear your
going my darling one: yet I should be well enough accus-
tomed to it by now. O you dear one! dear one!

They are not coming to-day nor at all at present & I am
not sorry for it. I shall get on very well, I have no doubt until
Thursday comes & you. I wish tomorrow were Thursday,
but I do not wish you were coming before Thursday because
I know it would be so much harder to bear afterwards.

If I knew where at Sevenoaks L[izzie] & Sallie are I
would go in the chaise & see them, but that will do any time.

Be well & happy dearest — but well before everything,
dearest I cannot express the sort of degout I feel whenever
there comes one of those sudden cessation of life — my only
spiritual life — being much with you — but never mind — it is
all well & right & very happy as it is. only I long unspeak-
ably for Saturday. This place is very lovely but it both looks
& feels to me quite lifeless, farewell Darling mine.

H. T. to J. S. M.:G This is one thing so perfectly admirable
to me, that you never in any mood, doubt the worth of enjoy-
ment or the need of happiness — one less fine wd undervalue
what he had not reached, does not this prove that you have
the poetic principle? for me my hope is so living and healthy
that it is not possible to me to doubt that it will increase more
and more until it assumes some new and higher form — going
on towards perfection.

Those words yesterday were cold and distancing, very, at
first. Do you not know what it is to receive, with an impulse of
thankfulness and joy and comfort, the packet which proves
at first sight only a collection of minerals — one feels some-
what like a mineral — but this comes and must come from the
uncongenial circumstances — the circumstances wh tend to

1834 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

elate or to despond do not come at the same time to both —
and tho' such things in no degree alter ones mind, they have
their effect in deciding which state of mind shall be for the
time uppermost — and always will have as long as it pleases
Heaven to endow us with a body and senses.

Tes — dearest friend — things as they are now — bring to
me, besides moments of quite complete happiness, a life &
how infinitely to be preferred before all I ever knew! I never
for an instant could wish that this had never been on my own
account, and only on yours if you cd think so — but why do I
say mine & yours, what is good for the one must be so for the
other & will be so always — you say so — & whatever of sad-
ness there may sometimes be, is only the proof of how much
happiness there is by proving the capacity for so much more.

You say that what you think virtue, 'the wise and good'
who have long known and respected you, wont think vice —
How can you think people wise, with such opposite notions?
You say too that when those who profess different principles
to the vulgar, act their principles, they make all worse whom
they do not make better & I understand you to believe that
they would make many worse and few better in your own
case — Is not this then the 'thinking with the wise and acting
with the vulgar' principle? And does not this imply com-
promise & insincerity? You cannot mean that, for that is both
base & weak — if made a rule and not an occasional hard
necessity.

I was not quite wrong in thinking you feared opinions — I
never supposed you dreaded the opinions of fools but only of
those who are otherwise wise & good but have not your
opinions about [?].

Two more notes by Mrs. Taylor are both on paper watermarked

1835 and were probably written in that or the following year.

H. T. to J. S. M.:1 Tuesday evening/Dearest — You do
not know me — or perhaps more truly you do not know the

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1834

best of me — I am not one to 'create chimeras about nothing'
— you should know enough about the effects of petty annoy-
ances to know that they are wearing & depressing not only
to body but to mind — these, on account of our relation, I
have & you have not — & these make me morbid — but I can
say most clearly & surely that I am never so without being
perfectly conscious of being so — that I always know that in a
better state of health all those morbid & weakly feelings &
views & thoughts would go. So far from your two instances
being like this — those women took the life with the men they
loved at once as a desperate throw without knowing anything
of those men's characters — if I had done that do you think
that I should not have been blindly devoted? of course I
should — in such a case the woman has absolutely nothing to
make life of but blind implicit devotion — it is not true that
my character is 'the extreme of anxiety and uneasiness' — if
my circumstances do not account to you for all or more of
anxiety & uneasiness which I show to you, why there is
nothing to be said about that — you do not know the natural
effect of those circumstances. If it is true that so long as you
concealed your feelings from me for fear of paining me, I can
only say I am sorry for it because I know you too well not to
know that no real feelings of yours would ever pain me. Then
as to your inquiring of how I should like that you shd go for
a walk without me I can only say that I am not a fool & I
should laugh at, or very much dislike the thought, that you
shd make your 'life obscure insignificant & useless' pour les
beaux yeux & I cannot think it was consistent with love to be
able to think or wish that. If it is true, & I suppose you know
yourself, that then 'you would never speak a true word again'
never 'express natural liking' never 'dare to be silent or tired'
why I can but say that if you would take such a life as that
you must be mad. That one might never be wholly satisfied
with the finite is possible but I do not believe that I shd ever
show that — I think it would & must be true of persons of
intellect & cultivation without acute feelings — but I have
j.s.m. 97 H

1834 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

always observed where there is strong feeling the interests of
feeling are always paramount (?) & it seems to me that per-
sonal feeling has more of infinity in it than any other part of
character — no ones mind is ever satisfied, nor their imagina-
tion nor their ambition — nor anything else of that class — but
feeling satisfies — All the qualities on earth never give happi-
ness without personal feeling — personal feeling always gives
happiness with or without any other character (?). The desire
to give & to receive feeling is almost the whole of my
character.

With the calmest, coldest view I believe that my feeling to
you would be enough for my whole life — but of course only
if I were conscious of having a good feeling.

I have always seen & balanced in my mind all these con-
siderations that you write about therefore they do not either
vex or pain me. I know all about all these chances — but I
know too what you do not, but what I have always told you,
that once having accepted that life I should make the very
best of it. I used long ago to think that in that case I would
have occasional fits of the deepest depression, but that they
would not affect our happiness, as I should not let you see
them — for long now I have been past thinking that. I shall
always show you & tell you <?//that I feel. I always do, & the
fact that I do so proves to me that I should have but little
that was painful to show, as to the rash & blind faith &
devotion of those women you instance look at the result to
them ! & that is the natural result of such an engagement
entered into in that way. If when first I knew you I had given
up all other life to be with you / shd gradually have found if
not that you did not love me as I thought at least that you
were different to what I had thought & so been disappointed
— there would never be disappointment now. I do not know
if 'such a life never succeeds' I feel quite sure that it would
succeed in our case. You may be quite sure that if I once take
that life it will be. for good.

With not only all that you write — but more all that can be

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1834

said, fully before me I should without hesitation say 'let it be\
I do not hesitate about the certainty of happiness — but I do
hesitate about the rightfulness of, for my own pleasure, giv-
ing up my only earthly opportunity of 'usefulness'. Tou hesi-
tate about your usefulness & that however greater in amount
it may be, is certainly not like mine marked out as duty. I
should spoil four lives & injure others. This is the only
hesitation. When I am in health & spirits I see the possibili-
ties of getting over this hesitation. When I am low & ill I see
the improbabilities. Now I give pleasure around me, I make
no one unhappy, & I am happy tho' not happiest myself. I
think any systematic middle plan between this & all imprac-
ticable. I am much happier not seeing you continually here,
because then I have habitually enough to make me able to
always be wishing for more, when I have that more rarely it
is in itself an object & a satisfaction.

I think you have got more interest in all social interests
than you used to have, & I think you can be satisfied as I can
at present perhaps with occasional meeting — but then for
every moment of my life you are my one sole interest &
object & I would at any instance give up all, were it ten
thousand times as much, rather than have the chance of one
iota of diminution of your love.

This scrawl literally in the greatest haste — because you
said write — but in the morn I shall see you. mine.

H. T. to J. S. M.:8 Wednesday/Dear one — if the feeling
of this letter of yours were your general or even often state of
mind it would be very unfortunate for — may I say us — for
me at all events. Nothing I believe could make me love you
less but certainly I should not admire one who could feel in
this way except from mood. Good heaven have you at last
arrived at fearing to be ' obscure & insignificant' \ What can I
say to that but 'by all means pursue your brilliant and impor-
tant career'. Am / one to choose to be the cause that the
person I love feels himself reduced to 'obscure & insignifi-

1834 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

cant' ! Good God what has the love of two equals to do with
making obscure & insignificant, if ever you could be obscure
& insignificant you are so whatever happens & certainly a
person who did not feel contempt at the very idea the words
create is not one to brave the world. I never before (for years)
knew you to have a mesquin feeling. It is a horrible want of
unanimity between us — I know what the root (?) is, I have
not the least desire either to brave it or to court it — in no
possible circumstances shd I ever do either — those imply
some fellow-feeling with it & that I have only in case I could
do it or any individual of it any good turn — then I should be
happy for the time to be at one with it — but it is to me as
tho' it did not exist as to any ability to hurt me — it could not
& I never could feel at variance with it. how I long to walk
by the sea with you & hear you tell me the whole truth about
your feelings of this kind. There seems a touch of Common
Place vanity in that dread of being obscure & insignificant —
you will never be that — & still more surely /am not a person
who in any event could give you cause to feel that /had made
you so Whatever you think I could never be either of those
words.

I am not either exceedingly hurt by your saying that I am an
anxious and uneasy character. I know it is false and I shall
pity you if . . .9

From the winter of 1835—6 illness becomes a constant feature in
the lives both of Mill and Mrs. Taylor, never again quite to disappear.
Mrs. Taylor appears to have been in delicate health even for some time
before this, but the first references to this occur only about that time:
'She is well, that is as well as she ever is,' wrote Mill to W. J. Fox on
2 February 1836,10 adding that he himself was still out of health. He
had been suffering from a nervous head complaint affecting his eyes
since the end of the preceding year and his family and his friends seem
to have attributed this to the continued emotional strain. His father,
already confined at home by his last illness, wrote on 9 March 1 836 to
his younger son James, who shortly before had left for India, that
'John is still in a rather pining way; though as he does not choose to

100

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1836

tell the cause of his pining, he leaves other people to their conjecture.'11
That the suspected cause was avoided by the family as a subject of
conversation is only too likely from the story told by Bain that James
Mill, on learning of John's connexion with Mrs. Taylor, had 'taxed
him with being in love with another man's wife. He replied, he had no
other feelings towards her, than he would have towards an equally
able man. The answer was unsatisfactory, but final.'12

At the same time it seems that the heavy burden of work which
John Mill had carried for years and continued to impose upon himself
provides a sufficient explanation for the breakdown of his health. Just
then the absence of his father from India House had thrown still more
work on him after for a year, in addition to his normal activities, he
had acted as editor of the new London Review and in consequence of
the inefficiency of his subordinate, the nominal editor,13 had had to run
the journal practically single-handed. For some time he tried to get over
his illness by allowing himself occasional short breaks, such as an
excursion to Gravesend with Carlyle, at which, as the latter tells us,
Mill hoped 'to go and "get better" (in six and thirty hours) at a place
out there; and would not go without me'.14 Later in the spring how-
ever he was forced to spend some weeks at Brighton, from where he
was apparently brought back by the approaching death of his father.
James Mill died on 23 June and we have seen how sadly changed
Carlyle found Mill's appearance shortly afterwards. Soon he was
ordered away for three months by his doctor and at the end of July he
took his two young brothers Henry and George to the Continent. In
Paris they met Mrs. Taylor with her son Herbert and probably also
the two younger children, v/ho had travelled two days ahead of them.
To the first reports which George and Henry Mill sent home to their
sisters John added a few lines on the same sheet.

J. S. M. to Clara Mill, Paris, 3 August 1836 :15 One having
written to W[illie] & one to H[arriet] I must write to Clara
— so here goes — We are all quite as well, perhaps rather
better than was to be expected. George & Henry do not
seem at all struck with Paris — they are I think too young to
care much about it or to be impressed by it at all. They
seemed pleased with the country, & on the whole the excur-
sion has been hitherto tolerably successful. But the only piece
of thorough solid delight that George seemed to have was in

101

1836 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

meeting with a playfellow about his own size16 whom he
likes & who likes him very much. Nothing is settled yet
about our travelling further — it is not finally settled whether
we shall go alone or with our friends here, much less when
we shall go & how — the places are all taken by the diligence
for nearly a week to come, & posting so far is very expensive
— but we shall see. One thing seems certain — that both
Derry & I can stand travelling, we have not tried any night
work to be sure yet. we will write again from Geneva.

ever affectionately yours

J. S. M.

The two parties proceeded to Geneva and Lausanne where Henry
and George Mill and probably the Taylor children remained while
Mill and Mrs. Taylor went on to Northern Italy. As they left
Lausanne his brothers reported home that17 'his head is most obstinate;
those same disagreeable sensations still, which he has tried so many
ways to get rid of, are plaguing him'. Three weeks later Henry passes
on news received from Italy:18 'John wrote us a very desponding letter,
saying that if he had to go back without getting well, he could not
again go to the India House, but must throw it up, and try if a year or
two of leisure would do anything.' After spending two months in
Piedmont and on the bay of Genoa, and after they had been prevented
from going further south by the quarantine imposed because of an
outbreak of cholera, John Mill and Mrs. Taylor returned to Switzer-
land via Milan and the Italian lakes. At the end of October they
picked up the children at Lausanne, and early in November19 Mill
at least was back in London and at his work at India House, in only
slightly better health and with his head in particular no better than
before. It was from this time that 'he retained to the end of his life an
almost ceaseless spasmodic twitching over one eye'.20

For some months after his return Mill was exceedingly busy work-
ing up arrears at India House. He had been absent in effect for five
months and during his absence had been promoted, on the death of his
father, to the third place in the Examiner's Office. His salary had in
consequence risen to j£ 1,200 a year, the figure at which it remained for
the next eighteen years.

But most of Mill's energies during the little over two years which

102

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1837

separate this from the next long Continental journey were devoted to
the editorship of the London and Westminster Review. The death of his
father had made it possible for him to free it from the all too close
connexion with the more doctrinaire type of Utilitarianism and to use
it as a vehicle for inspiring into the Radical movement his own some-
what different ideals. Especially in 1838, after he had bought the
Review from Sir William Molesworth and when he devoted it largely
to the support of Lord Durham's Canadian mission, in the hope that
Lord Durham would become the leader of a new Radical movement,
his interests were more deeply engaged in current politics than almost
at any other period of his life, excepting only the years of the Reform
agitation.

There can be little doubt that Mrs. Taylor interested herself in
Mill's editorial activities but there is little evidence to show how far
this interest went. That she was currently reputed to exercise some
influence on the policy of the Review appears from the story told by
Mrs. Carlyle that their friend Godefroy Cavaignac used to call Mrs.
Taylor 'the Armida of the "London and Westminster".'21 Cavaignac,
the elder brother of General Louis Cavaignac, was then living in
London as a refugee and probably contributed to the Review and thus
presumably knew why he compared Mrs. Taylor to the beautiful
enchantress of Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata who estranged crusading
knights from their duty and who to that generation had become a
familiar figure through the operas of Gluck and Rossini. But the only
document referring to Mrs. Taylor's connexion with the Review
is a letter of hers to her husband, answering an inquiry on behalf of
some of his Italian friends. John Taylor, who had introduced Mazzini
to Carlyle in the preceding year,22 seems to have continued to exert
himself on his behalf and for other political refugees, and on one of his
visits to his wife in the neighbourhood of London to have charged her
with an inquiry in their interest. On the next day, a Saturday, when
Mill probably arrived, Mrs. Taylor replied.

H. T. to John Taylor, 23 September 1837 :23 My dear
John,/I find that Usilio's24 article is to be in the next number
of the 'London' — Robertson it seems meets the contributors
at the publishers Hooper Pall Mall — & Mr. Mill went in
there as he passed a day or two since & found both Usilio &
Mazzini there with Robertson — he had a good deal of talk

103

1837 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

with both of them & liked both very much — he has under-
taken to do all the revising that is necessary to Usilio's article
& has engaged him to write another on new Italian books &
Mazzini to write one on Italian politics since 1830 at which
time he was involved in them.25 I do not know how they are
paid but I believe at the old rate of 1 6 guis the sheet, & I do
not know how soon. There seems by a letter from Greece in
the Chronicle yesterday26 to be a man named Usilio engaged
in politics there — perhaps it is a brother or relation of this
man.

I hope you had a pleasant ride yesterday. I am quite well.
I hope you will soon come again, before long. Good bye

Your affectionate
H. T.

Mill on this occasion probably spent the beginning of a short
vacation with Mrs. Taylor since a few days later he wrote to Robert-
son27 from a walking tour in South Wales which lasted into October.

Of the several notes and fragments of notes by Harriet Taylor to
Mill which appear to belong to these years the only two which seem
to be complete may be inserted here:

H. T. to J. S. M.:28 I went this morning there in the hopes
of your word (?) my delight & there it was — believe all I can
say when I tell you how happy I am, that is, how happy you
make me.

This sweet letter (?) has been with me at every moment
since I had it & it keeps me so well so happy so in spirits — but
I cannot tell thee how happy it made me when first I read it
on the highest point (?) of the nice common with those
glorious breezes blowing — It has been like an equinoctial
tempest here ever since you left. Mama and C[aroline] are
here — I like it & it does me good — in the absence of the only
good I ever wish for.

Thank God however the promised summer which was to
be so much is come & will be all it was to be — has been
already so much. I am to see you on Saturday, indeed I could
not get on without.

104

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1837

I cannot write better to-day — tho' I never fe It better or
more.

Adieu my only & most precious — till Saturday — Dear
Saturday !

H. T. to J. S. M.:29 You will want to know how she is
before you go shall you not dear — so I write — I want so
much to hear how you got on last night that you were not
tired or uncomfortable in that, I should think, very tiresome
expedition. I did so hate you leaving me — yet that little visit
made me very happy — perhaps that is the reason I am better
as I am this morning — not very much but really somewhat
better & that is much.

I do not think I shall see you before Tuesday — that is a
terrible long time, but it does not feel to me longer than
Monday. It is your going away that makes it feel so long but
that cannot be avoided. Only do you my darling be well &
happy & I shall be well as I am happy, the happiest possible,
(no not possible — there is a happier possibility always) — but I
am perfectly happy. I do not see exactly how to manage
going to the sea — so I give it up at present.

When I think that I shall not hold your hand until Tues-
day the time is so long & my hand so uselsss. Adieu my
delight.

je baise tes jolies pattes

cher cher cher

Towards the end of 1838 both Mill and Mrs. Taylor were again
ailing seriously and preparing for a long journey to Italy. Mill was
suffering from pains in the chest and severe dyspepsia, and although his
family does not seem to have regarded his illness as very serious,30 some
of his friends had already little doubt that he was threatened with
consumption. Both Mill and Mrs. Taylor appear this time to have
taken great care not to let it be known that they were to travel together.
Mill let it be understood that he was going to Malta,31 while Mrs.
Taylor was' ostensibly proposing to visit one of her brothers and his
Italian wife at Pisa.32 None of the letters and other documents of the
period make any allusion to the joint journey, but the complete

105

1838 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

identity of the itinerary,33 so far as it is known, could leave no doubt
about it even if Mill had not sixteen years later in his letters to his wife
from Naples referred to their earlier joint visit.34

Mrs. Taylor and her daughter Helen, then a little over seven years
old, were just before Christmas taken by Mr. Taylor as far as Paris
and Mill apparently joined them there a few days later. The following
letter to his mother was sent a day or two after his arrival.

J. S. M. to Mrs. James Mi//:35 Paris/2 8th Decr 1838/
Dear mammy/Please send the first page of this scrawl to
Robertson36 — it saves double postage.

I am about as well, I think, as when I left London. I had a
wretched passage — for want of water the boat could not get
into Boulogne till half past two in the morning — it set off at
■| past eight & spent the whole 1 8 hours in going as slowly as
it could. My already disordered stomach stood the sickness
very ill & I arrived very uncomfortable & was forced to start
for Paris a very few hours afterwards. The first day I was un-
comfortable enough, but as the effect of the sea went off I
got better & arrived at Paris after 30 hours of the diligence
much less unwell than I thought I possibly could. Unless I
could have got to Marseilles by the 30th it was no use getting
there before the 9th so I don't start till Sunday morning &
shall not travel any more at night, but post to Chalons
(expensive as it is) & then go down the Soane & Rhone to
Avignon. Letters put in the post on the 2nd directed to
M. J. S. Mill Poste Restante a Marseille France, will be sure
to reach me in time. After that direct Poste Restante a Pise,
Italic — I cannot tell if I shall have time to write to you from
Marseille but I will endeavour. The weather has not got very
cold yet & I dare say I shall get into the mild climate first.

They call England's a bad climate but the north and east
of France have certainly a worse. What I most dread is the
sea passage from Marseille to Leghorn — seasickness is so
bad with me now. Love to all —

your affectionately

J. S. Mill
106

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1839

From a letter of Mrs. Taylor's to her husband from Chalons on
3 January37 we know that she had left Paris on the same Sunday,
30 December, which Mill had set for his departure, and had travelled
in extremely cold weather via Fontainebleau, Sens and Auxerre and
was to continue down the rivers to Marseilles and thence by sea to
Leghorn. In Pisa38 her brother and sister-in-law proved to be away and
the journey was soon continued to Rome and, after only a short stop,
to Naples where they spent most of February. During a fortnight's
stop at Rome on the return journey in the early part of March Mill
reports home on the state of his health.

J. S. M. to .?, Rome, 11 March j<?3q:39 I have returned here
after passing about three weeks very pleasantly at Naples,
and the country about it. I did not for some time get any
better, but I think I am now, though very slowly, improving,
ever since I left off animal food, and took to living almost
entirely on macaroni. I began this experiment about a fort-
night ago, and it seems to succeed better than any of the
other experiments I have tried.
Ten days later on the way north another report is rather more gloomy.

J. S. M. to .?, 21 March i83g:i0 As for me I am going on
well too — not that my health is at all better; but I have
gradually got quite reconciled to the idea of returning in
much the same state of health as when I left England; it is by
care and regimen that I must hope to get well, and if I can
only avoid getting worse, I shall have no great reason to com-
plain, as hardly anybody continues after my age to have the
same vigorous health they had in early youth. In the mean-
time it is something to have so good an opportunity of seeing
Italy.

From the last part of the journey we have a few observations by
Mrs. Taylor pencilled in a notebook41 which for the earlier part gives
merely the names of some of the places visited. Florence is described as

quite worthy of its reputation for beauty — the valley so
exactly the right size to frame the city, which from what-
ever point of view one sees it is very beautiful. The best
view is from the bank of the Arno opposite the Corsini, in

107

1839 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

the evening. The Appenines are less beautifully shaped here
than at any point at which I have seen them. I think the view
of Florence from Fiesole the least pretty, as I think Fiesole
the least pretty suburb of Florence, it quite agrees with
Continental notions of country going that even the plague
should drive Boccaccio's company no further than Fiesole.
Florence is the most indeed the only middle age looking
place in Italy.

There are also some brief comments on the galleries and similar
notes on Bologna, Padua and Venice where the party arrived in the
middle of May.

J. S. M. to Mrs. James Mi//.A2 Venice/ 19th May 1839/
My dear mother — I have been some days in this strange &
fine old place, the most singular place in Italy — & write to
say that I am going to set out almost immediately on my
return. I shall go by the Tyrol, & through Germany slowly;
if you write very soon, write to Mannheim ; if not, to Brussels.
As to how far the object of my journey has been attained, that
is rather difficult to say, & I shall probably be able to say
more about it after I have been for some time returned &
have resumed my regular occupations. I certainly have not
recovered my former health ; at the same time I have no very
troublesome complaint & no symptoms at all alarming & I
have no doubt that by proper regimen & exercise I shall be
able to have as good health as people generally have, though
perhaps never again so good a digestion as formerly. In this
however I shall be no worse off than three fourth of all the
people I know. I am not in the least liable to catch cold — I
never was less so in my life, & all idea of the English climate
being dangerous for me may be entirely dismissed from all
your minds. I shall in time find out how to manage myself —
indeed I think I have in a great measure found it out already.
— I have found no letters at Venice except one old one from
Robertson. I do not know if any have been written but I shall
leave word to send them after me to Munich where at any

108

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1839

rate I hope to find some. Will you show this or tell the con-
tents of it to Grant & thank him warmly from me for his
unwearied obligingness & kindness — & will you or the boys
tell Mr. Robertson that his letter without date, but bearing I
think the postmark 1st April, & directed to Rome, did not
for some reason or other reach me there, but has followed me
here, & is the last I have had from him & I am hoping for
another with fresher news about himself & all other matters
— also that I have not yet seen the review, for although they
take it at the reading room in Florence, they had not yet got
the last number. I have been unusually long without English
news having neither had any letters nor seen any newspapers
but of very old date. But I shall make it all up six weeks
hence. — I have had a most pleasant stay in Italy & may say
that I have seen it pretty thoroughly — I have left nothing out
except Sicily, & a few stray things here & there. I have been
last staying at the baths of Albano in the Euganean hills, not
far from Padua — most lovely country, more of the English
sort than Italy generally is — but the weather for a month past
has been as bad as a wet English summer except that it has
never been cold. Italy is a complete disappointment as to
climate — not comparable as to brightness & dryness to the
South of France, though I can easily believe that some parts
of it are more beneficial to certain complaints. Among other
fruits of my journey I have botanized much, & come back
loaded with plants. By the bye among those I want Henry to
dry for me, I forgot to mention the common elder. Italy is no
disappointment as to beauty, it is the only country I have
ever seen which is more beautiful than England — & I have
not seen a mile of it that is not beautiful. I expect to enjoy the
passage of the Alps exceedingly if the weather will let me, &
there seems to-day some chance of its clearing — it is the first
day without rain for a fortnight past. — Let me hear from
some of you soon.

affectionately

J. S. Mill
109

1839 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

From Venice the party proceeded through Bassano and the Val
Sugana into the Tyrol where for a short while Mrs. Taylor's notes
become a little fuller:

Trent on the Adige most beautiful and imposing as we
approached it from Borgo [di Val Sugana — the last stop
before Trent], a very fine town with German spaciousness
cleanness & pleasant eatables, delightful to find oneself in
Germany again, at Borgo the inn people spoke german &
there was german frankness niceness simplicity & honest
charges and from an opposite house, for the first time for six
months the great pleasure of hearing the sound of german
music played with german touch on a german piano-forte.
Certainly the Italians have no taste for music.

Taking about a week going over the Brenner to Innsbruck and via
Mittenwald into Bavaria the party arrived at the end of May in
Munich. Mrs. Taylor's notes conclude:

altogether Munich is a most cheerful happy looking place
& if as dissipated as people say presents an argument for
dissipation.

The journey through Germany via Heidelberg and Aachen and
finally through Brussels to Ostend took another month and Mill
arrived in London just in time to resume his duties at India House on
July i st while Mrs. Taylor seems to have gone at once to Brighton.

The years from about 1 840 to 1 847 are an almost complete blank
in our knowledge of Mill's private life and the character of his con-
nexion with Mrs. Taylor. We have scarcely any documents belonging
to this period and few other contemporary sources of interest. It is
probable that it was at the beginning of this time that they had become
aware of the scandalous talk about them, had learnt to exercise caution,
and that they withdrew almost completely from society. There were
other reasons present with both of them which contributed to this
retirement. With the abandonment of the editorship of the London and
Westminster Review in 1840 Mill had also given up the attempt to
inspire an active radical group to effective political action, and there-
no

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1840

after devoted all his free time to the composition of his major
theoretical treatises. The Logic was completed at the end of 1841,
although it appeared only in March 1 843, and part of it was rewritten
in the interval. After some years of abortive endeavour to write a
treatise on 'Ethology', he turned in 1845 to work on the Political
Economy. Severe financial losses which he had suffered through the
American repudiation of 1842 forced him to economize and to save
in an endeavour to make good losses on the capital which he held in
trust for his mother and sisters. This considerably reduced his mobility,
and according to Bain,43 he took no holiday at all during the first three
or four years of the decade. He also seems to have suffered during these
years renewed bouts of illness.

The forms of his intercourse with Harriet Taylor had by then
presumably settled down to a recognized routine. Since the end of the
i83o's Mrs. Taylor lived mainly in a house at Walton on Thames
where Mill appears regularly to have spent the week-ends. It is to the
beginning of this period, more precisely to the summer of 1 842 and
the following years, that Bain's often quoted story refers, that Mill
went regularly to dine with her at her husband's house about twice a
week, Mr. Taylor himself dining out. This must have been confined
to the short periods of Mrs. Taylor's visits to town, which seem to
have been few during the time to which Bain refers. Bain also mentions
their attending together Carlyle's courses of lectures which were given
in 1838 to 1840. One letter of Mrs. Taylor's referring to the last of
these courses has been preserved.

H. T. to Miss Eliza Fox, May or June 1840 :44 My dear Miss
Fox, not having heard from L[izzie?] & thinking it a pity
the card should lie here idle I sent it on Monday to Miss
Gillies. But I know Mr. Mill has one, which I do not think
he will use, & which I am sure he will be very glad to send
to her.

I am very glad she liked the Lectures; I did not expect it;
it is the highest flattery when she likes; I heard a mot of H.
Mar[tineau] very characteristic, she wrote to Mr. Carlyle
approving the syllabus but reminding him that he had
omitted the 'Hero' as 'Martyr' to which he replied that if he
had not considered him that in every situation he should

1840 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

never have thought him worth talking about. Lily has begun
many letters to you, so that my paper case is crowded with
papers commencing 'dear Tottie' but she has never had
courage or industry to complete one which she thinks 'worth
sending' having a salutary horror of 'blots' and respect for
your critical powers. She sends her love to you. She has often
wished for you here. We have had a most lovely season &
have enjoyed the sea thoroughly.

We leave this place next week to be nearer town. We shall
go to Tunbridge Wells & stay there some weeks, so that we
shall see you soon.

Adieu dear.

H. T.

A letter to her husband of about 1 840, in which Mrs. Taylor asks
for a bundle of manuscript which she left behind in town to be sent to
her, 'as I am very busy writing for the printers & want to get some
scraps out of that',45 is the only indication of some literary activity of
hers during that period, of the nature of which, however, we know
nothing. Her health during the whole of this period seems to have been
very poor. In addition to the consumptive tendencies which had shown
themselves much earlier, she suffered for a time from some spinal
injury suffered in a carriage accident46 which kept her for long on
a sofa and for the rest of her life seems to have been the cause of a
recurrent paralysis or at least partial lameness. But her illness seems
rarely to have been an obstacle to her travelling, or rather seems to have
provided the pretext for moving about restlessly most of the time.
Even while in England she appears to have been constantly on the
move, not only between her cottage in Walton on Thames and the
house in town, but also various places in the South of England.

Her only regular companion in this life was her daughter Helen,
only ten years old in 1 841, who, it would seem, never went to school,47
but had to pick up her education from her mother, from travel and
voracious reading in English, French and German. It is from the
fragments of a diary48 kept by the young girl that we get most of our
information on Mrs. Taylor's mode of life during that time, and,
incidentally, reflected in the mind of the precocious girl, probably also
some of her opinions. The diary covers part of two Continental

112

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1840

journeys, one in June and July 1 844 to Normandy, and another during
the same months of 1 846 to Belgium and up the Rhine. On both these
journeys Mill, who was absent from London during the periods in
question,49 may have accompanied them.

Helen Taylor's main interests at that time were the theatre and the
drama. We find her constantly writing and acting plays, learning long
parts, and at one stage translating Schiller's Maria Stuart. Her other
reading is surprisingly serious for a girl of fourteen or fifteen, mainly
history and religion. At thirteen and a half she complains: 'Why do not
people write now? Why is there neither man nor woman who dares to
say his opinions openly and so that all may know it? People fancy now
that cowardice (of opinion) is prudence, and indifference philosophy.'
It is probably also the mother speaking through the daughter when,
two years later, Helen Taylor notes: 'Everything of the Germans
seems excellent. The other books I have read are never like German
full of ideas and truths which instantly light up as a new possession.'
Her other great interest, which she shared with her brother Haji, was
in the ritual and particularly the music of the Roman Catholic church.
Even in England and still more on the Continent she rarely misses an
opportunity to attend High Mass and at least at one stage one feels
that her sympathy must have extended beyond the external forms of the
service.

Haji, the younger of her two brothers, is the only other member of
the family who occurs frequently in the diary. The relation of mother
and daughter to Herbert, the elder, seems to have been much looser.
He evidently was more attached to the father, whom he early assisted
and later succeeded in the firm, and from 1 846 onwards, when he went
for his first long visit to America, he seems to have been overseas a good
deal. There is no reference to Mill in the diary, though a few other
visitors at Walton (including Carlyle in 1 842 and Haji's friend George
Mill) are recorded.

Only two notes of Mrs. Taylor to Mill have been preserved from
this period. The first seems to be one of the few which Mill deliberately
kept because of its content. It refers to his correspondence with the
French philosopher Auguste Comte which had started in 1840 and
continued fairly actively for about five years. Mrs. Taylor evidently
had not seen it until after, in the second half of 1 843, it had turned
mainly on the position of women, on which the two philosophers
strongly disagreed. Of this part of the correspondence Mill not only,

j.s.m. 113 1

i844 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

against his usual habits, had kept the relevant parts of the drafts of his
own letters, but had also copied out Comte's replies and had both sides
of the discussion bound up as a volume,60 clearly for Mrs. Taylor's use.
Mill's friend, Alexander Bain, seems to have been allowed to see it
before her unfavourable criticism made Mill feel 'dissatisfied with the
concessions he had made to Comte' and decide that 'he would never
show them to anyone again'.51 It was probably with the following note
that Mrs. Taylor returned the letters to Mill.

H. T. to J. S. M.y about 1844 :52 These have greatly sur-
prised and also disappointed me, & also they have pleased
me, all this only regarding your part in them. Comte's is
what I expected — the usual partial and prejudiced view of a
subject which he has little considered & on which it is prob-
able that he is in the same state that Mr. Fox is about
religion. If the truth is on the side I defend I imagine C.
would rather not see it. Comte is essentially French, in the
sense in which we think French mind less admirable than
English — Anti-Catholic — Anti-Cosmopolite.

I am surprised in your letters to find your opinion undeter-
mined where I had thought it made up — I am disappointed
at a tone more than half-apologetic with which you state your
opinions. & I am charmed with the exceeding nicety ele-
gance & fineness of your last letter.53 Do not think that I
wish you had said more on the subject, I only wish that what
was said was in the tone of conviction, not of suggestion.

This dry sort of man is not a worthy coadjutor & scarcely
a worthy opponent, with your gift of intellect of conscience
& of impartiality is it probable, or is there any ground for
supposing, that there exists any man more competent to
judge that question than you are?

You are in advance of your age in culture of the intel-
lectual faculties, you would be the most remarkable man of
your age if you had no other claim to be so than your perfect
impartiality and your fixed love of justice. These are the two
qualities of different orders which I believe to be the rarest &
most difficult to human nature.

114

THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP 1844

Human nature essentially weak, for when it is not weak by
defect of intellect it is almost inevitably weak by excess of the
moral or conscientious principle, seems to me to attain its
finest expression only when in addition to a high develop-
ment of the powers of intellect, the moral qualities rise con-
sciously above all — so that the being looks down on his own
character with the very same feelings as on those of the rest
of the world, & so desiring the qualities he thinks elevated
for themselves wholly unmoved by considerations proper to
any portion of the race, still less so to himself. 'To do justly,
to love mercy, (generosity) & to walk humbly before all men'
is very fine for the age in which it was produced, but why was
it not 'before God' rather than before all men?

It makes the sentiment seem rather Greek than Jewish.

It appears to me that the idea which you propose in the
division of the functions of men in the general Government
proceeds on the supposition of the incapacity or unsuitable-
ness of the same mind for work of active life & for work of
reflection & combination, & that the same supposition is
sufficient to account for the differences in the characters &
apparent capacities of man & women considering that the
differences of the occupations in life are just those which you
say in the case of men must produce distinct characters
(neither you nor Comte seem to settle the other analogous
question, whether original differences of character & capaci-
ties in men are to determine to which class of workers they
are to belong) & there is also to be taken into account the
unknown extent of action on the physical & mental powers,
of hereditary servitude.

I should like to begin the forming of a book or list of what
in human beings must be individual & of in what they may
be classified.

I now & then find a generous defect in your mind or yr
method — such is your liability to take an over large measure
of people — sauf having to draw in afterwards — a proceeding
more needful than pleasant.

1844 THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

Mrs. Taylor's second note from approximately the same period has
survived probably by accident, but may serve as a specimen of their
more ordinary correspondence.

H. T. to J. S. M.:54 a thousand thanks & blessings dearest
& kindest one. What a deal of trouble I have made you take
— but you think nothing trouble for me beloved]

I think I had best not hope to see you to-day dearest dearest
because Arthur55 is coming & will be here at the time you
would come — but tomorrow certainly for I could not be longer
without. I will get the stupid ticket56 and we will go for an
hour & see our old friend Rhino — will you dear come & take
me tomorrow about five?

Yesterday I walked to Norfolk St — they were not there &
then Haji and I went to mama at the old place — she was very-
busy & I helped her all day until ten at night, when I came
home — so you see dear all the fatigue that had gone before
was little compared to this last — & if I had known what it
would be I shd not have gone there it was a great deal too
much — but I am so perfectly and entirely happy, without
one single cloud, that I shall soon get over this merely
physical fatigue.

I shall hear from Herby soon & on that will depend if I go
to that place again. If he is going on well I shall not go till
next week to bring them up. So we can have Sunday if we
please love & we will talk of it to-morrow.

Adieu & bless you my perfect one.

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Chapter Six

A JOINT PRODUCTION

1847-1849

In the Autobiography Mill says of Mrs. Taylor that
'The first of my books in which her share was conspicuous was
the "Principles of Political Economy". The "System of Logic"
owed little to her except in the minuter matters of composition, in
which respect my writings, both great and small, have largely benefited
by her accurate and clear-sighted criticism. The chapter of the Political
Economy which has had a greater influence on opinion than all the
rest, that on "the Probable Future of the Labouring Classes", is
entirely due to her: in the first draft of the book that chapter did not
exist. She pointed out the need of such a chapter, and the extreme
imperfection of the book without it: she was the cause of my writing
it; and the more general parts of the chapter, the statement and dis-
cussion of the two opposite theories respecting the proper condition
of the labouring classes, was wholly an exposition of her thoughts, often
in words taken from her lips. The purely scientific part of the Political
Economy I did not learn from her; but it was chiefly her influence
that gave to the book that general tone by which it is distinguished
from all previous expositions of Political Economy that had any pre-
tensions to being scientific, and which has made it so useful in con-
ciliating minds which those previous expositions had repelled. . . .
What was abstract and purely scientific was generally mine; the
properly human element came from her: in all that concerned the
application of philosophy to the exigencies of human society and pro-
gress, I was her pupil, alike in boldness of speculation and cautiousness

117

1847 A JOINT PRODUCTION

of practical judgement. For, on the one hand, she was much more
courageous and far-sighted than without her I should have been, in
anticipations of an order of things to come, in which many of the
limited generalizations now so often confounded with universal
principles will cease to be applicable.'1

In Mill's hand list of his publications the Political Economy is
described as 'a joint production with my wife'. The description of one
of his publications as a 'joint production' occurs for the first time at the
beginning of 1 846 with regard to a newspaper article and afterwards
with increasing frequency.2 The Autobiography also gives an account
of the incredibly short period during which the great treatise was
written:

'The Political Economy was far more rapidly executed than the
Logic, or indeed than anything of importance which I had previously
written. It was commenced in the autumn of 1845, and was ready
for the press before the end of 1847. In this period of little more than
two years there was an interval of six months during which the work
was laid aside, while I was writing articles in the Morning Chronicle
(which unexpectedly entered warmly into my purpose) urging the
formation of peasant properties on the waste lands of Ireland. This was
during the period of the Famine, the winter of 1 846-7. '3

From an unpublished letter of Mill to H. S. Chapman of 9 March
1 8474 we know that Mill had already completed the first draft, pre-
sumably the one without the chapter on 'The Futurity of the Labour-
ing Classes', during the preceding week, that is, even before he had
discontinued his intense journalistic activity which in the course of
about fifteen months led him to contribute more than sixty articles to
the Morning Chronicle. The last article of the series appeared in April
and Mill then discontinued writing for the press to devote himself
entirely to the final revision of the book or, as he says in the letter to
H. S. Chapman, 'rather rewriting, which is an indispensible part of
anything of importance I write'.

Unfortunately we have practically no documentary evidence of the
part which Mrs. Taylor took in the composition of the first edition of
the work. What little light the existing papers throw on the period
tend on the whole to confirm Mill's account. Apart from the tour of
about six weeks to the Rhine and Northern France in June and July
1 846, Mrs. Taylor appears to have been in England throughout the

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

period, living mostly at Walton, but according to her habit constantly
going for short visits to Worthing, Brighton, Ryde and other places
on the South Coast or the Isle of Wight, and only rarely coming to
town. What time she and Mill can have spent together must have
been mainly during week-ends and Mill's vacation. The first mention
of the Political Economy in the letters of Mrs. Taylor that have been
preserved occurs towards the end of 1 847 when the book was practi-
cally finished.

H. T. to John Taylor, Walton, late 1847 ;5 1 do certainly look
more like a ghost [than] a living person, but I dare say I shall
soon recover some better looks when we get to Brighton. I
think I shall not be able to go before the end of next week
being just now much occupied with the book.

A letter to her husband of only three or four weeks later refers to
Mill in connexion with another matter which probably arose out of his
recent journalistic activities.

H. T. to John Taylor, Walton (.?), 18 January 1848* Mr.
Mill has just had an overture from Sir. J. Easthope wishing
him to share the proprietorship of the Morng Chronicle. It
seems Easthope has had a quarrel with his son in law Boyle
& which he says it is impossible can be made up — nor can
they go on in the same concern. The quarrel however is not
about the Chroni6. but about a will. . . . Easthope says that
100,000 have been divided among the proprietors since he
took it. He has 7~8tb and Duncan the bookseller i-8th. He
offers 3 or 4-8th at 1 700 each. He says the Daily News has
made an offer to be sold to the Chronicle but they want too
much. The Tories are very eager to get it. Mr. Mill does not
mean to take it as he thinks part proprietorship would not
ensure the opinion he would take it solely with the object of
advocating — but he is very anxious to save it from the Tories.
It seems Alderman Farebrother7 has made an offer for it.

Shares enough to constitute a majority would amount to a
large sum. Sir J. Easthope said that Ly Easthope has one
share which she would not give up.

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1848 A JOINT PRODUCTION

Easthope says the present sale is 3200 & that it has been
done up so far by the Daily News. Yet that paper seems on
its last legs. I shall be very sorry if the 'rascally Times' is to
become the sole representative of english liberalism !

If this was an attempt to interest Mr. Taylor in the control of the
Morning Chronicle nothing came of it. Not much later 'the book'
again appears in the correspondence between Mrs. Taylor and her
husband.

H. T. to John Taylor, about February 1848* I am so taken
up with the Book which is near the last & has constantly
something to be seen to about binding &c that I could not
leave town before the beginning of April if even then.

H. T. to John Taylor, Walton, 31 March 1848:* The book
on The Principles of Political Economy which has been the
work of all this winter is now nearly ready and will be pub-
lished in ten days. I am somewhat undecided whether to
accept its being dedicated to me or not — dedications are not
unusual even of grave books, to women, and I think it cal-
culated to do good if short & judicious — I have a large
volume of Political Economy in my hands now dedicated to
Madame de Sismondi — yet I cannot quite make up my mind
— what do you advise — on the whole I am inclined to think
it desirable.

The reference to the dedication to Madame de Sismondi is a little
disingenuous: it is evidently to the English translation of Sismondi 's
work which had appeared in the preceding year and which had been
dedicated by the translator to the widow of the author.10 Mr. Taylor's
first reaction to this request is not preserved, nor the further note with
which Mrs. Taylor followed it up, but their general character can be
inferred from the more considered reply John Taylor wrote two days
later.

John Taylor to H. T.:11 Monday 3 April 1848/My dear
Harriet,/ I was so much surprised on Saturday when I
received your note & found you to be inclined to have the

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

Book dedicated to you that I could not reply until I had a
little time to reflect upon the question, & this I had during a
walk to Pall Mall from whence I wrote my letter. — Con-
sideration made me decidly think, as I did at the first moment
of reading your letter, that all dedications are in bad taste, &
that under our circumstances the proposed one would evince
on both author's part, as well as the lady to whom the book is
to be dedicated, a want of taste & tact which I could not have
believed possible. — Two days have since passed & my con-
viction remains the same notwithstanding your letter of
yesterday.

It is not only 'a few common people' who will make vulgar
remarks, but all who know any of us — The dedication
will revive recollections now forgotten & will create obser-
vations and talk that cannot but be extremely unpleasant
to me.

I am very sorry you should be much vexed at my decided
opinion. You asked me, 'what do you advise' — and feeling &
thinking as I do, that the proposed dedication would be most
improper, I felt bound to give my opinion in decided terms,
& such as could not be mistaken. I much regret, as I always
do, differing in opinion with you. But as you asked me what
I advised, I have not hesitated to give my opinion.

No one would more rejoice than I should at any justice &
honour done to you — and if I thought my feelings and wishes
alone stood in the way of your receiving both, it would be a
source of great sorrow to me. But I do not believe that either
would result from anything in such bad taste as the proposed
dedication would, in my opinion, shew. I can assure you that
this subject has given me much anxiety & trouble these last
two days, — it is never pleasant to differ with you — most of
all upon questions such as this.

Yours affy

J.T.

When the Principles of Political Economy with Some of Their Applica-
tions to Social Philosophy appeared in April 1848, a limited number of

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1848 A JOINT PRODUCTION

copies had a separate sheet pasted in after the title page, marked 'Gift
Copy' in small print at the foot, and bearing the following dedication12:

MRS. JOHN TAYLOR

AS THE MOST EMINENTLY QUALIFIED

OF ALL PERSONS KNOWN TO THE AUTHOR

EITHER TO ORIGINATE OR TO APPRECIATE

SPECULATIONS ON SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT,

THIS ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN AND DIFFUSE IDEAS

MANY OF WHICH WERE FIRST LEARNED FROM HERSELF,

WITH THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND REGARD

DEDICATED.

Some copies, it seems, were distributed by Mrs. Taylor herself and
one of them went to the daughter of their old friend W. J. Fox.

H. T. to W. J. Fox:1* Kent Terrace,/May 10,/1848/Dear
Mr. Fox,/I am glad you like the book. It is, I think, full of
good things — but I did not suppose you were interested in
the subjects which most interest me in it, and I sent it to Miss
Fox because when I knew her in her early youth she appeared
to interest herself strongly in the cause to which for many
years of my life & exertions have been devoted, justice for
women. The progress of the race waits for the emancipation
of women from their present degraded slavery to the necessity
of marriage, or to modes of earning their living which (with
the sole exception of artists) consist only of poorly paid &
hardly worked occupations, all the professions, mercantile
clerical legal & medical, as well as all government posts
being monopolized by men. Political equality would alone
place women on a level with other men in these respects. I
think the interested or indifferent selfishness of the low re-
formers would be overmastered by the real wish for greater
justice for women which prevails among the upper classes of
men, if but these men had ideas enough to perceive that
society requires the infusion of the new life of the feminine

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

element. The great practical ability of women which is now
wasted on worthless trifles or sunk in the stupidities called
love would tell with most 'productive' effect on the business
of life, while their emancipation would relieve the character
of men from the deadening & degrading influences of life
passed in intimacy with inferiors. But ideas are just that
needful stock in trade in which our legislators are as lament-
ably deficient as our Chartists, who with their idea of uni-
versal suffrage are too purblind to perceive or too poltron to
proclaim that half the race are excluded. I cannot but dissent
from an argument you for a moment turned the light of your
countenance upon, the first time, I think, you spoke in the
house, — to the effect that 'who would be free themselves
must strike the blow' or at all events express their desire.
This argument appears to be even less appropriate to the case
of women than it would have been to that of the negroes by
emancipating whom, from her own sense of justice alone,
England has acquired the brightest glory round any nation's
name. Domestic slaves cannot organize themselves, — each
one owns a master, & this mastery which is normally passive
would assert itself if they attempted it. The position of
women is also unique. No other slaves have . . .14

H. T. to TV. J. Fox:15 May 12 [i848]/Dear Mr. Fox,/
Your note has given me a genuine & hearty sensation of
pleasure. I was going to say it is delightful to find that one
has done less than justice to a friend! which you should
understand but which I will change into, I am delighted to
find that we agree so far.

You must not suppose that I am less interested in the
other great question of our time, that of labour. The equaliz-
ing among all the individuals comprising the community
(varied only by variation in physical capacities) the amount
of labour to be performed by them during life. But this has
been so well placed on the tapis by the noble spectacle of
France ('spite of Pol1 Ecoy blunders) that there is no doubt

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1848 A JOINT PRODUCTION

of its continuing the great question until the hydra-headed
selfishness of the idle classes is crushed by the demands of
the lower. The condition of women question goes deeper into
the mental and moral characteristics of the race than the
other & it is the race for which I am interested. God knows if
only the people now living or likely to follow such progeni-
tors were what one thought of in any exertion, both common
& uncommon sense would make one as utterly and as suc-
cessfully selfish (for oneself and a little band of friends) as
the rest. I fear that if the suffrage is gained by all men before
any women possess it, the door will be closed upon equality
between the sexes perhaps for centuries. It will become a
party question in which only the highminded of the stronger
party will be interested for justice. The argument is all in the
general principle — and this is neither understood nor cared
for by the flood of uneducated who would be let in by the
'male' universal suffrage.

I should have said that the Dedn. was confined to copies
given to friends at my special request & to the great dis-
appointment & regret & contrary to the wish & opinion of
the author, my reason being that opinions carry more weight
with the authority of his name alone.

Ever Truly Yrs
H. T.

Of the great interest which political events abroad during 1848
must have aroused in Mill and Mrs. Taylor we get only a slight
reflection in two of her notes written from the Isle of Wight where
she was staying.

H. T. to J. S. M., Ryde, 25 July 1848 :16 It seems to me that
you are the only man with a mind & feeling in this country —
certainly in public life there is none possessing the first
named requisite. Only think of Fox saying that he 'entirely
approved & wd do all in his power to enable the ministers to
carry the bill the earliest possible'!17 Is this place hunting of
John Bullism —

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

I am very glad you wrote that to Crowe.18 It is excellent &
must do some good. I only disagree in the last sentence — but
that does not much matter. How can you 'know' that a rising
cd. not succeed — and in my opinion if it did not succeed it
might do good if it were a serious one, by exasperating &
giving fire to the spirit of the people. The Irish wd I shd hope
not be frightened but urged on by some loss of life. However
that is entre nous & is not the thing to say to these dowdies
(?) — the more that it might not prove true. I suppose it is
impossible that Ireland cd. eventually succeed & if so you
are right. I am disgusted with the mixture of impudence (in
his note and marked passages) & imbecility in the article
which he send of the Reasoner19 of this foolish creature Holy-
oake. I suppose he must too be answered. What do you think
of the ci-joint notion of an answer? I should like to see your
answer before it goes if quite convenient.

I fancy I shd say that the morality of The Reasoner
appears to me as far as any meaning can be picked out of the
mass of verbiage (?) in which its opinions on morality are
always enveloped to be as intolerant slavish & selfish as that
of the religion which it attacks, and the arguments used in
the Reasoner against religion are even if possible more fool-
ish & weak than that of its opponents. None of the marked
quotations against people who are afraid to acknowledge
their opinions touch (?) me, in the slightest degree. I am
ready to stand by my opinions but not to hear them traves-
tied, & mixed up with what appears to me opinions founded
on no principles & arguments so weak that I should dread
for the furtherance of my anti religious opinions the imputa-
tion that they do not admit of being better defended.

In the very number you send me of 'The Reasoner' a
vulgar epithet of abuse is applied to the French for having
imageried (?) Reason as their head! You say your 'atheism'
does not l negative (I suppose this means in English deny) the
worship of a God to set up reason instead? The sentence has
& admits no other meaning.

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1848 A JOINT PRODUCTION

The fool ought to be sharply set down by reasons — but he
is such an excessive fool & so lost in self sufficiency that he
will cavil & prate say what you will. But as I suppose he
must have an answer the only plan is to strike hard without
laying yourself open. I am glad of the quarrel with him as I
am glad not to have your name and influence degraded by
such a connection.

The sentence I copied above runs thus — 'our atheism is
not the' &c 'for it does not negative the worship of God to
set up the worship of a harlot'.

What does the fellow mean except by a sideblow to crush
those who practise illegally what he practises legally. If he
had any principles of morality he cd. not use such an expres-
sion. The fact is his irreligion like Fox's liberalism is a trade.

Will you please dear keep this note as I have put down my
notions about this man.

I am as you see utterly disgusted with the adhesion to
Russell of Fox & that is the cause that I can for the first time
in my life speak of him without the title of respect, the tame
& stupid servility. If saying he 'would do all in his power to
make Russell carry it' — says 'come and buy me' as plainly as
words can speak for what cd. be, or be supposed to be, in his
power beyond his vote! It was the roast pig's 'come eat me'.

I was excessively amused by the top paragraph in the
Daily News from Paris saying that Proudhon moved that the
fiction of the acknowledgement of the being of a God shd be
erased.20 It does one good to find one man who dares to open
his mouth & say what he thinks on that subject. It did me
good, & I need something for the spirits, as did also your
note to Crowe — The reading that base selfish & imbecile
animal Trench21 has made my spirits faint. But the 2d vol. is
the corpus delicti. Adio caro carissimo till Saty when we
shall talk over all these things.

Among22 other trash did you observe Hume said — 'To
interfere with the labour of others and to attempt to establish
community of property is a direct violation of the funda-

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

mental laws of society'. What a text this would be for an
article which however no paper would publish. Is not the
Ten Hours' Bill an 'interference &c &c'? Is not the 'inter-
ference' with their personal freedom by this Suspension Bill
a 'violation' &c, what is the meaning of 'fundamental laws of
society' the very point in debate on the subject, communism,
on which he professed to be speaking.

Oh English men!

English intellect!

& also might it not be said that if they are justified in inter-
fering with personal liberty (a fundamental law if there is any)
would they not be equally justified in enacting a law that all
Irish landlords whatsoever must instantly repair to Ireland?
This wd. be in accordance with their professed principles of
noble & propertied government in exchange for benefits, of
duties accompanying rights — but no ; troops & force — but no
interference with the liberty of the propertied or extra con-
stitutional measures for them!

H. T. to J. S. M., Ryde, 27 or 28 July 1848 ;23 I am so dis-
gusted with the French Assembly & also with the Daily
News that it makes me sick to think of defending the one or
helping the other. Surely the intense & disgusting vulgarity
of the Daily news might be noticed somewhere. Did you
observe its Paris correspondents notice of Flocon's speech.24
Progress of Liberty forsooth advocated by a paper which
applauds the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus — that is to
say the suspension of the boasted freedom of the english con-
stitution the moment the people endeavour to profit by it.
& applauds the exclusion by law of women from clubs ! The
last is so monstrous a fact, & involves so completely the
whole principle of personal liberty or slavery for women that
it seems to me a case of conscience & principle to write
specially on it. Certainly I cannot conceive publishing this25
or any article in defence of the French revolution unless

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accompanied by one specially on the subject of this act of the
chamber, by such an article you would also have the means of
saying out fully to the readers of the Daily News that in
principle women ought to have votes &c. This would be in
some degree pledging the Daily News still more it wd teach
many timid young or poor reformers that such an opinion is
not ridiculous. It [is] this last that makes the low dread to
advocate it. Look at that disgusting sentence in their Paris
correspondent's letter.

The French article26 I return with some few pencil marks
attached. If you follow it by one on this vote of the Assembly &
on the true & JUST meaning of Universal Suffrage — on the
propriety of keeping that title as best expressive of the true &
just principle instead of as some low-minded reformers have
done merging the principle in the vulgar selfishness of 'man-
hood suffrage' which I perceive is quite the fashion among
the active low reformers.

I confess I prefer an aristocracy of men & women together
to an aristocracy of men only — for I think the last is far more
sure to last — but all this we have often said. I shd be sorry
this really excellent article on French affairs shd go unless it
is to be followed by an attack on the assembly. If you think
this can be done & were to do it before Saty we could talk it
over together but you will scarcely have time.

The note to Holyoake I think is very good bring me the
draft again will you? Perhaps you will think it better to leave
out about Mde d'Arusmont.27 yet I long to give the rascal
that retort. The pencil marks on the article are meant only as
hints.

I wholly disagree that the influence of Ireland on the
english mind is now anti-revolutionary.

'The publication of the Political Economy was followed by another
very serious breakdown in [Mill's] health. In the summer of 1848,
he had a bad accident. Inside the Kensington Grove gate of Hyde

128

HARRIET TAYLOR

c. 1834
Oil portrait in possession of the Author

3 1

< +$

h M b

S d |

M ^

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A JOINT PRODUCTION 1848

Park, there is a pump by which he used to cross in order to walk on
the grass. One day he trod on a loose brick, and fell heavily on the hip.
In treating the hurt, a bella donna plaster was applied. An affection of
his eyes soon followed, which he had knowledge enough at once to
attribute to the bella donna, and disused the plaster forthwith. For some
weeks, however, he was both lame and unable to use his eyes. I never
saw him in such a state of despair. Prostration of the nervous system
may have aggravated his condition.'28

Mrs. Taylor meanwhile, during the summer and autumn of 1 848,
was moving about in her usual manner between Walton and various
places on the South Coast. A number of notes exchanged between her
and her husband during these months give us a few glimpses of some
of the events.

H. T. to John Taylor, Walton, 20 September 1848 ;29 I must
occupy myself seriously in house hunting as we certainly
must give up this nice little house the sooner perhaps the
better, for they have spoiled the appearance of it now from
the outside by poor people's poor little places opposite — and
what is another great nuisance I hear that the Austin's have
taken a furnished house at Weybridge & like the place so
much that they are looking out for a cottage there. I have no
doubt this is to be near Clairmont, & for her to make a circle
of French people, the Guizots etc. as an attraction to the
english. already I hear a number of people going by the rail-
way to call there — and I neither wish to renew the acquain-
tance nor to seem to avoid it.

At last, at the end of October, Mrs. Taylor settled for two months
at Worthing where Mill visited her, probably only for week-ends, but
long enough to write there the article in reply to Lord Brougham's
attack on the French Revolution of that year, or 'the pamphlet' as he
usually refers to it, since he intended to distribute a number of reprints
in France. Immediately after Christmas, probably in order that Mill
could use the holidays to accompany them part of the way, Mrs. Taylor
and her daughter left for the South of France — somewhat to the
distress of Mr. Taylor, who had been ailing for some time and, though
nobody yet knew the seriousness of his condition, seems to have wished

J.S.M. 129 K

1848 A JOINT PRODUCTION

to know his wife at least in the neighbourhood. But problems arising
out of the presence in London of one of her brothers on a visit from
Australia made Mrs. Taylor insist.

John Taylor to H. T., 2 November 1848 ;30 I hear that Geo.
Mill is going to Madeira on Tuesday next. I am glad he is to
go immediately — but I cannot believe he will derive much
benefit from the change — his mind & whole morale is
unhinged and unsettled.

H. T. to John Taylor:^ Worthing Dec. 19 [i848]/My
dear John/ I am very sorry to find you sz.y you are sorry I am
going to Pau. I can assure you I do not do it for my pleasure,
but exceedingly the contrary, & only after the most anxious
thought — Indeed I am half killed by intense anxiety. The near
relationships to persons of the most opposite principles to my
own produces excessive embarrassments, and this spring it
must he, far worse than usual owing to the constant presence
in London of A[rthur], whom I must either neglect (which
is very disagreeable to me) or admit into a degree of intimacy
which must inevitably lead to an interference on the part of
Birksgate and either a rupture with them or to discussions &
dissentions which I have not the strength to bear. I feel
scarcely any doubt that A will not stay in England another
winter & I therefore think that my going away for the next
four months would cut the difficulties I feel about this spring,
while I should return at a season (May) & in health to exert
myself during the summer months — having got through by
leaving England the otherwise insurmountable difficulty of
those months with A. I think if you turn over in your mind
my circumstances you will see how completely my going is a
matter of expediency. It is the alternative of a rupture
with them which may thus be avoided. — & it is always so
undesirable to make family quarrels if it is possible to avoid
them.

. . . Your saying that you are sorry I am going has given
me ever since I read your note so intense a headache, that I

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can scarcely see to write — However it is only one of the
vexations I have to bear & perhaps everybody has.

Mill probably accompanied the ladies as far as Paris, from where
they proceeded slowly by diligence via Orleans and Bordeaux to Pau
at the foot of the Pyrenees. Here they stopped for a little over three
months. Although a number of Mrs. Taylor's letters from Pau to
her husband and her son Algernon are preserved,32 none of hers then
written to Mill are extant and only six of the carefully numbered letters
Mill33 wrote to her twice a week still exist. They give, however, the
fullest information we have on the nature of the influence which Mrs.
Taylor exercised on the successive revisions of the Political Economy
and it is largely from them that we must draw whatever inference we
can on the part she played in the original composition of the work.
The first of Mill's letters which survives is numbered 8.

J. S. M. to H. 71:33 Saturday/27 Jany [1849VY0U might
well feel that the handwriting would be 'worth having', but
instead of there being 'little said' the excessive sweetness &
love in this exquisite letter makes it like something dropt
from heaven. I had been literally pining for it & had got into
a state of depression which I do not think I shall fall into
again during this absence. When I left you my darling &
during all the journey back I was full of life & animation &
vigour of wish & purpose, because fresh from being with
you, fresh from the influence of your blessed presence & of
that extreme happiness of that time which during the last
week or fortnight I have hardly been able to conceive that I
ever had — much less that I ever should have again — but this
angel letter has begun to bring back happiness & spirit & I
begin to feel the holiday & journey & that blessed meeting
as if they would really be — & to feel capable also of being &
doing something in the meanwhile which I had entirely
ceased to feel. But I am very anxious darling to hear about
the lameness & to find that it has got better. I have a very
strong feeling about the obstinacy of lameness from the
troublesome persistency of this of mine — though it is cer-
tainly better — but still it does not go away, nor allow me to

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take more than a very little exercise — & I feel the effect a
little now in general health — the sight too has not quite
recovered itself which is an additional teaze, but I am not
uneasy about it. The only piece of news is that Austin called
yesterday. When he came & during all the time he staid
there was a Frenchman with me, a man named Guerry,34
a statistical man whom Col. Sykes35 brought to me — the
man whose maps of France with the dark & light colours
shewing the state of crime instruction etc. in each depart-
ment you may remember, he was wanting to show me some
other maps & tables of his & to ask me about the 'logic' of
his plans so he did not go away & the talk was confined to
general subjects, except that Austin said he was going to
prepare a new edition of his book on jurisprudence on a
much enlarged plan & should wish very much to consult me
on various matters connected with the application of induc-
tion to moral science. Of course I could not refuse & indeed
saw no reason for doing so — but as this will lead to his
coming again, sending MSS. & so on it both gives an occa-
sion & creates a necessity of defining the relation I am to
stand in with respect to them. He said he had after much
difficulty and search taken a house at Weybridge & that he
liked the place, but he did not (I have no doubt purposely)
say anything about wishing that I should visit him there, or
anywhere. His talk was free & eclaire as it always is with me,
much of it about that new publication of Guizot36 (which I
have not read) of which he spoke disparagingly & defended
communists & socialists against the attacks contained in it &
said he saw no real objection to socialism except the difficulty
if not impracticability of managing so great a concern as the
industry of a whole country in the way of association.
Nothing was said about her or about the copy of the Pol. Ec.
but it is necessary to -prendre un -parti, what should it be? I
am reading Macaulay's book:37 it is in some respects better
than I expected & in none worse. I think the best character
that can be given of it is that it is a man without genius, who

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has observed what people of genius do when they write his-
tory, & tries his very best to do the same — without the
amount of painful effort, & affectation, which you might
expect & which I did expect from such an attempt & such a
man. I have no doubt like all his writings it will be & con-
tinue popular — it is exactly au niveau of the ideal of shallow
people with a touch of the new ideas — & it is not sufficiently
bad to induce anybody who knows better to take pains to
lower people's estimation of it. I perceive no very bad ten-
dency in it as yet, except that it in some degree ministers to
English conceits.

From a letter by Mrs. James Mill to her children in Madeira, dated
four days later, we get further information about John Mill's health.

Mrs. James Mill to Clara and George Mill, Kensington,
31 January 1849 ;38 Jorin wishes me to say that he had fully
intended to write to you by this mail but that his eyes are bad
from the effect of the medicine he took for his Hip, and
Alexander whom he saw yesterday says that he must not use
them; his hip is still bad so that he cannot walk, it is not
worse he thinks, but it is not much better so that he cannot
walk either way to the India House, the Drs say that it will
require time, if he could walk he could go to the country
while his eyes are bad, so that it is of no use going — I am
going to Lewes39 to see whether he can recommend a Man
to read to John, and to write to his dictation that he may [be]
beginning another edition of his book as the other is almost
all sold. . . . He wishes me to tell you that he will write to you
as soon as he is allowed to use his eyes. We played at cards
till 12 o'clock last night and between while he played upon
the Piano without music some of his own compositions.

John did after all add a few lines to the letter — on some problem
concerning the property of his married sisters for which George acted
as trustee.

The first edition of the Political Economy (of 1,000 copies) was in
fact exhausted in less than a year and the preparation of a second

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1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

edition was becoming urgent. As Mill explains in the Autobiography,
the revolution of 1 848 had made public opinion more ready to consider
novelties and he and Mrs. Taylor had through it acquired a new
interest in French socialism:

'In the first edition the difficulties of socialism were stated so
strongly, that the tone was on the whole that of opposition to it. In
the year or two which followed, much time was given to the study of
the best socialist writers on the Continent, and to meditation and dis-
cussion on the whole range of topics involved in the controversy: and
the result was that most of what had been written on the subject in the
first edition was cancelled, and replaced by arguments and reflections
which represent a more advanced opinion.'40

It is this process which we can follow in part in the letters which
follow. The main discussion of socialism is contained in the chapter
'On Property' at the beginning of Book II of the Political Economy.
The first instalment of the revised proofs (probably in the type of the
first edition) which contains this crucial chapter must have gone to
Mrs. Mill early in February and we can gather the nature of her
comments from Mill's replies.

J. S. M. to H. F.:41 i5/Monday/i9 Febr. [1849]/! re-
ceived your letter 1 1 on Saturday & this morning the first
instalment of Pol. Ec. This last I will send again (or as much
of it as is necesasry) when I have been able to make up my
mind about it. The objections are I think very inconsiderable
as to quantity — much less than I expected — but that para-
graph, p. 248, in the first edit.42 what you object to so
strongly & totally, is what always has seemed to me the
strongest part of the argument (it is only what even Proud-
hon says about Communism) — & as omitting it after it has
ever been printed would imply change of opinion, it is neces-
sary to see whether opinion has changed or not — yours has,
in some respects at least, for you have marked strong dissent
from the passage that 'the necessaries of life when secure of
the whole of life are scarcely more a subject of conscious-
ness'43 &c which was inserted on your proposition & very
nearly in your own words. This is probably only the progress

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we have been always making, & by thinking sufficiently I
should probably come to think the same — as is almost always
the case, I believe always when we think long enough. But
here the being unable to discuss verbally stands sadly in the
way, & I am now almost convinced that as you said at first,
we cannot settle this 2d edit, by letter, but now I feel almost
certain that we must adjourn the publication of the 2d edit.
to November. In the new matter one of the sentences you
have cancelled is a favourite of mine, viz, 'It is probable that
this will finally depend upon considerations not to be
measured by the coarse standard which in the present state
of human improvement is the only one that can be applied to
it44.' what I meant was that whether individual agency or
Socialism would be best ultimately (both being necessarily
very imperfect now, & both susceptible of immense improve-
ment) will depend on the comparative attractions they will
hold out to human beings with all their capacities, both
individual and social, infinitely more developed than at
present. I do not think it is English improvement only that
is too backward to enable this point to be ascertained for if
English character is starved in its social part I think Conti-
nental is as much or even more so in its individual & Con-
tinental people incapable of entering into the feelings which
make very close contacts with crowds of other people both
disagreeable & mentally & morally lowering. I cannot help
thinking that something like what I meant by the sentence
ought to be said though I can imagine good reasons for your
disliking the way in which it is put. Then again if the sen-
tence 'the majority would not exert themselves for anything
beyond this & unless they did nobody else would &c'45 is not
tenable, then all the two or three pages of argument which
precede & of which this is but a summary, are false & there
is nothing to be said against Communism at all — one would
only have to turn round & advocate it — which if done would
be better in a separate treatise & would be a great objection
against publishing a 2d edit, until after such a treatise I

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think I agree in all the other remarks. Fourier if I may judge
by Considerant is perfectly right about women both as to
equality & marriage — & I suspect that Fourier himself went
farther than his disciple thinks prudent in the directness of
his recommendations. Considerant sometimes avails himself
as Mr. Fox used of the sentimentalities & superstitions
about purity, though asserting with it all the right principles.
But C[onsiderant] says that the Fourierists are the only
Socialists who are not orthodox about marriage — he forgets
the Owenites, but I fear it is true of all the known Commun-
ist leaders in France, he says it specially of Buchez, Cabet, &
what surprises one in Sand's 'guide, philosopher & friend' of
Leroux. This strengthens one exceedingly in one's wish to
[?] the Fourierists besides that their scheme of Association
seems to me much nearer to being practicable at present than
Communism. — Your letter was delightful — it was so very
pleasant to know that you were still better as to general
health than I knew before & that the lameness also improves
though slowly. I am very glad I did right about Herbert —
his conduct on Xmas day & his not writing even to say that
he is going to America seem like ostentation of heartlessness
& are only as you say to be explained by his being a very
great fool (at present) & therefore influenced by some miser-
ably petty vanities and irritabilities. Their not sending
George's letter directly is very strange. The pamphlet has
gone to Hickson46 — I had thought of sending one of the
separate copies to L. Blanc. Whom else should it go to? To
all the members of the Prov. Gov. I think. & as it will not be
published till April I had better take the copies to Paris with
me & send when there as it saves so much uncertainty and
delay. I did see that villainous thing in the Times & noticed
that the American had used those words.

J. S. M. to H. r..-47 i6/Wednesday/2i Feb. 1849/I
despatched yesterday to the dear one an attempt at a revision
of the objectionable passages. I saw on consideration that the

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objection to Communism on the ground of its making life a
kind of dead level might admit of being weakened (though I
believe it never could be taken away) consistently with the
principles of Communism, though the Communistic plans
now before the public could not do it. The statement of
objections was moreover too vague & general. I have made
it more explicit as well as more moderate; you will judge
whether it is now sufficiently either one or the other; &
altogether whether any objection can be maintained to Com-
munism, except the amount of objection which, in the new
matter I have introduced, is made to the present applicability
of Fourierism. I think there can — and that the objections as
now stated to Communism are valid : but if you do not think
so, I certainly will not print it, even if there were no other
reason than the certainty I feel that I never should long con-
tinue of an opinion different from yours on a subject which
you have fully considered. I am going on revising the book;
not altering much, but in one of the purely political economy
parts which occurs near the beginning, viz. the discussion as
to whether buying goods made by labour gives the same
employment as hiring the labourers themselves, I have added
two or three pages of new explanation & illustration which I
think make the case much clearer.48 — It is certainly an un-
lucky coincidence that the winter you have gone away should
be so very mild a one here: on Sunday I found the cottage
gardens &c as far advanced as they often are only in the
middle of April, mezereum, hepaticas, the white arabis,
pyrus japonica &c in the fullest flower, the snow ball plant
very much in leaf, even periwinkles and red anemones fully
out: daffodils I saw only in bud. If it is not checked it will be
I think an even earlier spring than the very early one two or
three years ago. I shall be able to benefit by it more than I
expected in the way of country walks on Sundays although
the dimness of sight, slight as it is, interferes not a little with
the enjoyment of distant scenery — as I found in that beautiful
Windsor Park last Sunday. If it is very fine I think I shall go

1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

some Sunday & wander about Combe — it is so full of associ-
ations with all I wish & care for. As I have taken care to let
my ailments be generally known at the I.H. I have no doubt
it will be easy to get a two or three months holiday in the
spring if we like: this indeed if I return quite well would
make any holiday in the after part of the year impracticable,
but need not prevent me from taking two or three days at a
time occasionally during a sejour at Ryde or any other place
& thus making it a partial holiday there. Unless, which I do
not expect, a long holiday soon should be necessary for
health, the question ought to depend entirely on what would
best suit you — which is quite sure to be most desirable for
me. I am in hopes that parties in France are taking a more
republican turn than they seemed likely to do — if Napoleon
Bonaparte coalesces with Lamartine's party for election pur-
poses there will be a much larger body of sincere republicans
in the new assembly than was expected. The Roman republic
& the Tuscan Provisional Govt. I am afraid will end in
nothing but a restoration by Austria & a putting down of
the popular party throughout Italy. I was sorry to see in the
feuilleton of the National a very bad article on women in the
form of a review of a book by the M. Legouve (?) who was so
praised in La Voix des Femmes.49 The badness consisted
chiefly in laying down the doctrine very positively that
women always are & must always be what men make them —
just the false assumption on which the whole of the present
bad constitution of the relation rests. I am convinced how-
ever that there are only two things which tend at all to shake
this nonsenical prejudice: a better psychology & theory of
human nature for the few; & for the many, more & greater
proofs by example of what women can do. I do not think that
anything that Could be written would do nearly so much good
on that subject, the most important of all, as the finishing of
your pamphlet — or little book rather, for it should be that.50
I do hope you are going on with it — gone on with & finished
& published it must be, & next season too. — Do you notice

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that Russell in bringing forward his Jew Bill, although he is
actually abolishing the old oaths & framing (?) new, still has
the meanness to reinsert the words 'on the true faith of a
Christian' for all persons except Jews, & justifies it by saying
that the Constitution ought not avowedly to admit unbe-
lievers into Parliament. — I have seen very little of the Chair-
man & Dep. Chairman51 lately — as to avoid the long stair-
case I have communicated with them chiefly by others but
now being released from restraint I shall take an early oppor-
tunity of speaking to Galloway about Haji. I have seen
nothing more of Haji any more than of Herbert. Addio (?)52

From a letter to her husband of a few days later we see that Mrs.
Taylor had some real understanding of economic problems. The gold
discoveries to which it refers can then only recently have become
known:

H. T. to John Taylor ', Pau, 27 February 18 4g:53 Do you
suppose this Californian discovery will make any change in
the value of money for some time to come? If it continues I
suppose it will lower the value of fixed incomes, but I suppose
benefit trade? If I were a young man I would go there
quickly. The most probable chance is that the gold will not
continue below the surface — meanwhile there must be fine
opportunities for placing goods, & especially drugs, in the
placiemento. are you going to send out quinine.

H. T. to Algernon Taylor, Pau, 6 March 1849 ;54 I have not
written lately — I have been out of spirits and therefore dis-
inclined to enjoy or to write about the beautiful objects and
scenery which form the staple of our quiet life here. The
account I hear of George [Mill] and my knowledge of that
insidious disease make me very much fear for him, and I
most earnestly and anxiously wish that he may live. It is very
important in writing to him to say very little about his health,
and not to seem to think of it as anything more than a com-
mon cough, because if a person thinks themselves consump-
tive the effect on the spirits has the utmost possible tendency

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1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

to produce or to accelerate that fatal disease. I think he
would much like to hear from you and perhaps you have
already written. You might give him a long letter about all
sorts of impersonal objects, such as politics — yourreviewand
its articles — what you have been reading lately and your
opinion thereon — our stay at his place & its scenery, Sin-
nett's prospects — Herbert's voyage &c. ... I often wish for
you when I see all this beauty and feel that if we live we will
sometime see it together, and that 'Ce qui est defere n'est pas
perdu', as the proverb says. I am very glad to hear that Papa
is better on the whole but I wish the improvement were
quicker. He ought in future to pay due respect to my medical
judgement as I have twice anticipated his physician's advice
in the last few months ! I do hope he will mend more quickly
with the finer weather which may be expected in April. . . .
I have not read Grote's history, I should think it must be
interesting — tho' I think that knowing his 'extreme opinions'
I should think it a defect that he does not indicate them more
clearly, as there is ample and easy room to do in treating of
the Greek Philosophers, extreme timidity is his defect, but
this is a great one indeed in a public instructor. Mr. Mill was
to write a review of the book in last Sunday's Spectator,65
which you will like to see. And now dearest Haji, with love
to Papa — Adieu.

The five letters which Mill wrote to Mrs. Taylor during these
weeks are missing but the next three which are preserved are con-
secutive.

J. S. M. to H. T.:™ 22/Wednesday/i4 March [1849]/
What a nuisance it is having anything to do with printers.
Though I had no reason to be particularly pleased with
Harrison, I was alarmed at finding that Parker had gone to
another. & accordingly, though the general type of the first
edition is exactly copied, yet a thing so important as the type
of the heading at the top of the page cannot be got right —
you know what difficulty we had before — & now the head-

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ingSj & everything else which is in that type, they first gave
much too close & then much too wide, & say they have not
got the exact thing, unless they have the types cast on pur-
pose. Both the things they have produced seem to me detest-
able & the worst is that as Parker is sole owner of this edition
I suppose I have no voice in the matter at all except as a point
of courtesy. I shall see Parker today & tell him that I should
have much prefered waiting till another season rather than
having either of these types — but I suppose it is too late now
to do any good — & perhaps Parker dragged out the time in
useless delays before on purpose that all troublesome changes
might be avoided by hurry now. It is as disagreeable as a
thing of that sort can possibly be — because it is necessary
that something should be decided immediately without wait-
ing for the decision of my only guide & oracle. If the effect
should be to make the book an unpleasant object to the only
eyes I wish it to please, how excessively I shall regret not
having put off the edition till the next season. I have had the
proofs of the pamphlet, all but the last few pages. There
seems very little remaining in it that could be further softened
without taking the sting out entirely — which would be a pity.
I am rather against giving away any copies, at least for the
present, in England — except to Louis Blanc to whom I sup-
pose I should acknowledge authorship. He has not come near
me — I see he is writing in sundry Communist papers of
which there are now several in London. As a heading in the
review I have thought of 'The Revolution of February and
its assailants' — it does not seem advisable to put Brougham's
name at the top of the page — & 'the revolution of February'
or anything of that kind by itself would be tame, & excite no
attention. There is no fresh news of George, nor any incident
of any kind except that Mr. Fox has send me (without any
letter) four volumes of his lectures to the working classes, the
last volume of which (printed this year)57 has a preface in
which he recommends to the working classes to study Polit.
Economy telling them that they will see 'by the ablest book

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yet produced on the subject' that it is not a thing against
them but for them — with some other expressions of compli-
ment he prints two paragrs., one of them the strongest there
is in the book about independence of women, & tells them in
another place though rather by inference than directly that
women ought to have the suffrage. He speaks in this preface
of 'failing health' & as if he did not expect either to write or
to speak in public much more: this may mean little, or very
much. I feel now as if the natural thing, the thing to be
expected, was to hear of every one's death — as if we should
outlive all we have cared for, and yet die early.

Did you notice that most bete & vulgar say by Emerson
in a lecture at Boston, about the English?58 It is hardly poss-
ible to be more stupidly wrong — & what sort of people can
he have been among when here? The Austrian octroye fed-
eral constitution seems as bad as anything pretending to be
a constitution at all now dares to be — the only significant
circumstances in it on the side of democracy being that there
is no house of Lords nor any mention of nobility or heredi-
tary rank. Here the sort of newspaper discussion which has
begun about Sterling's infidelity seems to have merged into
a greater scandal about a book by Froude59 — a brother of the
Froude who was the originator of Puseyism. This book was
reviewed in the last Spectator I sent to you60 & that review
was the first I had heard & is all I have seen of the book —
but the Herald & Standard are abusing the man in the tone
of the Dominican inquisition on account of the strong de-
claration against the inspiration of the Bible which he puts
into the mouth of one of his characters, obviously as they say
thinking the same himself. It appears the Council of Uni-
versity College had been asked to select a schoolmaster for
Hobart Town & had chosen Froude61 from among a great
many candidates & probably some rival defeated candidate
has raised this stir. It all, I think, does good, but one ought to
see occasionally the things that are written on such matters,
in order not to forget the intensity of the vulgar bigotry, or

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affectation of it, that is still thought to be the thing for the
Christian readers of newspapers in this precious country.
The Times is quite gentlemanlike in comparison with these
other papers when they get on the ground of imputed infidel-
ity or anything approaching it. I suppose they overshoot
their mark, but they would scruple nothing in [?] such case.

The next letter is mutilated, most of the first sheet being deliberately
cut away, leaving on the first page only a fragment of what was
evidently a discussion of the itinerary for the joint return journey from
Pau,62 but carefully preserving the beginning of the discussion of a new
paragraph on page two.

J. S. M. to H. T., 17 March (?) 1849:™ The bargain with
Parker is a good one & that it is so is entirely your doing —
all the difference between it & the last being wholly your
work, as well as the best of the book itself so that you have a
redoubled title to your joint ownership of it. While I am on
the subject I will say that the difficulty with the printer is sur-
mounted— both he & Parker were disposed to be accomodat-
ing & he was to have the very same type from the very same
foundry today — in the meantime there has been no time
lost, as they have been printing very fast without the head-
ings, & will no doubt keep their engagement as to time.
You do not say anything this time about the bit of P.E. — I
hope you did not send it during the week, as if so it has mis-
carried— at the rate they are printing, both volumes at once,
they will soon want it.

I was wrong in expressing myself in that way about the
Athenians,64 because without due explanation it would not
be rightly understood. I am always apt to get enthusiastic
about those who do great things for progress & are im-
mensely ahead of everybody else in their age — especially
when like the Athenians it has been the fashion to run them
down for what was best in them — & I am not always suffici-
ently careful to explain that the praise is relative to the then
state & not the now state of knowledge & what ought to be

1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

improved feeling. I do think, however, even without these
allowances, that an average Athenian was a far finer speci-
men of humanity on the whole than an average Englishman
— but then unless one says how low one estimates the latter,
one gives a false notion of one's estimate of the former. You
are not quite right about the philosophers, for Plato did
condemn those 'barbarisms'.

I regret much that I have not put in anything about Palmer-
ston into that pamphlet — I am almost tempted to write
an express article in the West1- in order to make him the
amende. As you suggested I wrote an article on Russell's
piece of meanness in the Jews Bill & have sent it to Crowe
from whom I have not yet any answer — there has been no
time hitherto fit for its publication — the time will be when
the subject is about to come on again in Pari1, but I fear the
article even as 'from a correspondent' will be too strong meat
for the Daily News, as it declares without mincing the
matter, that infidels are perfectly proper persons to be in
parliament. I like the article myself. I have carefully avoided
anything disrespectful to Russell personally, or any of the
marks, known to me, by which my writing can be recognized.

If I meet Fleming65 again or am again assaulted on any
similar point I will reply in the sort of way you recommend —
I dare say the meeting with F. was accidental as it was just at
the door of Somerset House where he is Assistant Secretary
of the Poor Law Board & just at the time when he would be
probably coming out. Ever since I have kept the opposite
side.

J. S. M. to H. T.: 24/Wednesday/2i March [i849]6fl/
The Pol. Ec. packet came on Monday for which a thousand
thanks. I have followed to the letter every recommendation.
The sentence which you objected to in toto of course has
come quite out.67 In explanation however of what I meant by
it — I was not thinking of any mysterious change in human
nature — but chiefly of this — that the best people now are

144

JOHN TAYLOR

Aliniature in the British Library of Political and Economic Science

JOHN STUART MILL

1840

Medallion reproduced from 'The Letters of John Stuart All IP,
ed. by H. S. R. Elliott

A JOINT PRODUCTION 1849

necessarily so much cut off from sympathy with the multi-
tudes that I should think they must have difficulty in judging
how they would be affected by such an immense change in
their whole circumstances as would be caused by having
multitudes whom they could sympathize with — or in know-
ing how far the social feeling might then supply the place of
that large share of solitariness & individuality which they
cannot now dispense with. I meant one thing more, viz. that
as, hereafter, the more obvious & coarser obstacles & objec-
tions to the communist system will have ceased or greatly
diminished, those which are less obvious & coarse will then
step forward into an importance & require an attention
which does not now practically belong to them & that we can
hardly tell without trial what the result of that experience
will be. I do not say thatjyo# cannot realize & judge of these
things — but if you & perhaps Shelley & one or two others
in a generation can, I am convinced that to do so requires
both great genius & great experience & I think it quite fair
to say to common readers that the present race of mankind
(speaking of them collectively) are not competent to it. I can-
not persuade myself that you do not greatly overrate the ease
of making people unselfish. Granting that in 'ten years' the
children of the community might by teaching be made 'per-
fect' it seems to me that to do so there must be perfect people
to teach them. You say 'if there were a desire on the part of
the cleverer people to make them perfect it would be easy[']
— but how to produce that desire on the part of the cleverer
people? I must say I think that if we had absolute power to-
morrow, though we could do much to improve people by
good laws & could even give them a very much better educa-
tion than they have ever had yet, still, for effecting in our
time anything like what we aim at, all our plans would fail
from the impossibility of finding fit instruments. To make
people really good for much it is so necessary not merely to
give them good intentions & conscientiousness but to unseal
their eyes — to prevent self flattery, vanity, irritability & all
j.s.m. 145 l

1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

that family of vices from warping their moral judgments as
those of the very cleverest people are almost always warped
now. But we shall have all those questions out together &
they will all require to be entered into to a certain depth, at
least, in the new book which I am so glad you look forward
to as I do with so much interest. — As for news — did you see
in theTimes Mrs.Buller's death? I suspect it was the very day
I wrote last. I have heard nothing of the manner or occasion
of it, & had not supposed from anything I had heard before,
that there was any likelihood of it. So that volume is closed
now completely.68 I called the other day at Charles Fox's
shop to ask the meaning of Mr. Fox's illness & C.F. said he
has constant pains in his side which are either heart disease
or merely nervous but which are made much worse by public
speaking or any other excitement & that is the reason he so
seldom speaks in the H.o.C. It is probably mere nervous
pain therefore, & not dangerous, but it shews him to be out
of health. There were letters from George yesterday of three
weeks later date: his report is that he is neither worse nor
better, he thinks that he coughs about six or seven times an
hour through the 24 hours. He still writes as not at all out of
spirits — one expression he uses is that he wants nothing to
make him happy but to be able to go up into the mountains,
& to have a better prospect of the future — I think he means
better avenir in case he ultimately recovers — but he seems
persuaded that his disease is seldom cured or stopped. I shall
write to encourage him for I am convinced it is often stopped
though hardly ever cured & I do not yet despair of his case.
Crowe's answer was 'I shall be but too happy to print the
article. The Jews Bill is put off till after Easter, but if you
will allow me I will insert it immediately.' There is nothing
like kicking people of the D[aily] N[ews] sort it appears. I
answered telling him if he thought it would be of as much
use now as about the time when the bill comes on by all
means to print it now. It has not yet made its appearance.
The printing of the 2d edit, goes on satisfactorily in all

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respects. Last Sunday I went by railway to Watford &
walked from there to town, indeed more, for the direct road
being by Stanmore I turned off before getting there, to
Harrow, thus lengthening the walk 3 or 4 miles. I think I
must have walked 20 miles, & almost all of it at a stretch,
with occasional short resting on a stile. I confess however
that the miles between Harrow & London were excessively
long, but I felt no kind of inconvenience the next day or since
from the walk. The lameness is now no obstacle at all — the
only obstacle is general weakness, as compared with my state
when in perfect health. The sight remains the same. I look
forward to Saturday with immense pleasure because there is
always a letter, adieu with every good wish.

The last of Mill's letters in this series which has been preserved is
also mutilated. Almost the whole of the first half of the sheet is
deliberately cut away, leaving on the second page69 only the beginning
of his reply to Mrs. Taylor's comments on the discussion of population
in the chapter on The Remedies for Low Wages towards the end of
the first volume of the Political Economy.

J. S. M. to H. T., London, 31 March i84g : The alteration I
have made in the sentence of the P.E. was instead of 'placard
their intemperance' to say 'placard their enormous families'
— it does not read so well, but I think it may do, especially as
the previous sentence contains the words 'this sort of inconti-
nence'— but your two sentences are so very good that as that
sheet is not yet printed, get them in I must & will.70 — Are
you not amused with Peel about Ireland? He sneers down
the waste lands plan,71 two years ago, which the timid min-
isters, timid because without talent, give up at a single sar-
casm from him, & now he has enfante a scheme containing
that & much more than was then proposed — & the Times
supports him & Ireland praises him. I am extremely glad he
has done it — I can see that it is working as nothing else has
yet worked to break down the superstition about property —
& it is the only thing happening in England which promises

1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

a step forward — a thing which one may well welcome when
things are going so badly for the popular cause in Europe —
not that I am discouraged by this — progress of the right kind
seems to me to be quite safe now that Socialism has become
inextinguishable. I heartily wish Proudhon dead however —
there are few men whose state of mind, taken as a whole,
inspires me with so much aversion, & all his influence seems
to me mischievous except as a potent dissolvent which is good
so far, but every single thing which he would substitute
seems to me the worst possible in practice & mostly in prin-
ciple. I have been reading another volume of Considerant
lately published.72 he has got into the details of Fourierism
with many large extracts from Fourier himself. It was per-
haps necessary to go into detail in order to make the thing
look practicable, but many of the details are, & all appear,
passablement ridicules. As to their system, & general mode
of thought there is a great question at the root of it which
must be settled before one can get a step further. Admitting
the omnipotence of education, is not the very pivot & turn-
ing point of that education a moral sense — a feeling of duty,
or conscience, or principle, or whatever name one gives it —
a feeling that one ought to do, & wish for, what is for the
greatest good of all concerned. Now Fourier, & all his fol-
lowers, leave this out entirely, & rely wholly on such arrange-
ments of social circumstances as without any inculcation of
duty or of 'ought', will make every one, by the spontaneous
action of the passions, intensely jealous for all the interests of
the whole. Nobody is ever to be made to do anything but act
just as they like, but it is calculated that they will always, in a
phalanstere, like what is best. This of course leads to the
freest notions about personal relations of all sorts, but is it, in
other respects, a foundation on which people would be able
to live & act together? Owen keeps in generals & only says
that education can make everybody perfect, but the Fourier-
ists attempt to shew how, & exclude, as it seems to me, one
of the most indispensable ingredients.

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What a bathos73 to turn from these speculations to pinched
methodistical England. It is worth while reading the articles
in the newspapers about Froude & Sterling74 to have an
adequate idea of what England is. The newspaper talk on
the subject having the irresistible attraction of personality-
still continues, & I have within this week read in shop
windows leading articles of two weekly newspapers, the
Church & State Gazette & the English Churchman, keeping
it up. They have found the splendid mare's nest of the
'Sterling Club'.75 1 remember the foundation of the said club
by Sterling himself, very many years before his death — soon
after he began to live permanently out of London — though
called a club it had neither subscription nor organization, but
consisted in an agreement of some 12 or 20 acquaintances of
Sterling, the majority resident University people, that there
should be one day in the month when if any of them liked to
dine at a place in Lincoln's Inn Fields he would have a
chance of finding some of the others. I let them put me down
as one, & went there, I think three times, with Sterling him-
self & at his request, in order to pass an evening in his com-
pany— the last time being, I believe, in 1838. A few weeks
ago I was reminded of the existence of the thing by receiving
a printed list of members, in which I was put down with
many others a honorary — it has greatly increased in num-
bers, is composed (in more than one half) of clergymen,
including two bishops, Thirlwall and Wilberforce, & I sup-
pose it has organized itself with a regular subscription as it
has removed to the Freemason's & has begun sending circu-
lars previous to each dinner. One of these lists fell into the
hands of the 'Record' newspaper & combining this with
Hare's Life of Sterling it charges Hare, Maurice, Trench,
these bishops, & innumerable others with founding a society
to honour & commemorate an infidel — & joining for that
purpose with persons strongly suspected of being no better
than infidels themselves, such as Carlyle & me. It is very
amusing that these people who take such care to guard their

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1849 A JOINT PRODUCTION

orthodoxy get nothing by it but to be more bitterly attacked.
However it shews what I did not suppose, that it required
some courage in a church dignitary to write about a heretic
even in the guarded way that Hare did.76 —

Yesterday Nichol77 called on me — whom I had not seen
since 1840 — he is in town for some days or probably weeks
& is about to publish a book on America where he has been
travelling. As he is a walking man I am going to have a
country walk with him tomorrow — my other Sunday walks
have been alone. I always have thought him a man of whom
something might be made if one could see enough of him — I
shall perhaps be able to judge now if my opinion was right,
but at all events his book will shew. He has this in his favour
at least which is the grand distinction now that he is in-
tensely forward-looking — not at all conservative in feeling
but willing, to be very destructive & now adieu with every
possible wish.

On Monday no doubt I shall hear again.

In a letter from her husband received by Mrs. Taylor toward the
end of March he seems to have given her a more unfavourable account
of the state of his health which caused her some concern but evidently
gave no idea of the real gravity of his condition.

H. T. to John Taylor^ Pau, 30 March 1849:™ If I only con-
sulted my own inclination I should come back to England
immediately on the receipt of your letter in hopes of being
able to be of use to you — the reason I cannot do this is that I
have arranged with Mr. Mill to meet me on the 20th of April
when he is to have three weeks holiday on account of his
health which has been the whole winter in a very precarious
state. For the last two months he has been almost unable to
read or write & has had to engage a man to read to him & to
write from his dictation & both Clark & Alexander the
occulist say that a complete change & cessation from all work
is absolutely necessary to save his sight — he has had blisters
& irritating applications innumerable without any effect and

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is indeed about half blind. They say that giving up using the
eyes & mild weather will cure them as they attribute all the
bad symptoms to extreme debility. I shall therefore return
with him as far as Paris & I shall get back the earliest that I
possibly can in the hopes of being of use to you. I have not
been quite well lately having had some return of my stomach
derangement, but I am getting better again & the travelling
will be sure to do my health good. I feel it a duty to do all in
my power for his health & it is unfortunate that he is so
much required at the change of direction on 1 ith April that
he cannot leave London before that. He does not tell even his
own family where he goes for his holiday as I so hate all tittle-
tattle. Therefore I do not mention it either except to you. I
trouble you with all these particulars because I wish you to
know that nothing but a feeling of right would prevent my
returning at once.

Mill probably joined Mrs. Taylor and her daughter at Bagneres,
where however the party cannot have stayed long since, after an excur-
sion to Cauterets in the High Pyrenees, they were already on their way
home at Toulouse on April 20,79 but appear to have spent another
fortnight going north via Montauban, Limoges and Chateauroux to
Orleans and Paris.

I5i

Chapter Seven

JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND
DEATH

1849

ither in order to avoid travelling together when they were

likely to meet acquaintances, or merely because Mrs. Taylor
-dwas awaiting a calmer day for crossing the Channel, Mill

returned from Paris to London a day or two in advance, with a message
for Mr. Taylor that his wife was well and would arrive presently.
When at last Mrs. Taylor arrived on 14 May, she found her husband
much more gravely ill than she had expected — in fact, as the doctor
soon gave her to understand, dying of cancer.

For two months until his death she then devoted all her strength to
nursing the invalid. A long series of hastily written notes to Mill give
a continuous account of her fluctuating hopes and fears. For some time
she refused to accept the scarcely veiled verdict of the doctors and to
submit to the inevitable. A great part of her notes to Mill during the
first few weeks is concerned with the question of what other doctors
to consult and with books on the disease which she studies to discover
whether there is any chance of a cure. Nobody who reads the whole set
of these notes1 can doubt the genuineness of her anguish or the ex-
clusiveness of her devotion during these last weeks, when she scarcely
sees Mill, to the incessant care of her dying husband. All the following
excerpts are taken from these notes to Mill, whose exact dates are
mostly uncertain.

H. T. to J. S. M., 28 (?) May 1849:* It is extraordinary the
hard work both I & L[ily] have gone through & still take

152

JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

each day but I have lost almost all count of the days & know-
not when is the beginning or end of the week — the whole
time passed in soothing the pain by words of sympathy or
diverting it by inventing talk or actively engaged in all the
incessant operations for relief. He is most patient & firm &
endures with the utmost strength & courage — but why
should he have these torments to endure ! what good to any-
body is all this — he never hurt or harmed a creature on earth.
If they want the life why can't they take it — what useless
torture is all this ! & he is so sorry & hurt to give so much
labour to me — he feels that I am the greatest good to him &
feeling that no servant could do what I do for him enables me
to keep up. He said 2 days since 'well if ever I do recover it
will be entirely owing to you'. How cruel to feel that his
chance is so slight — alas I feel as if he besides you is the only
life I value in this wretched world. He is so thoroughly true
direct honest strong & with all the realities of nice feelings, as
I constantly see now. What a contrast is such a man to the
vapid sentimental egotists Stirling, Carlyle, etc., who let
inflated conceit of their own assumed superiority run away
with all strength and humility.

Early June:3 You talk of my writing to you 'at some odd
time when a change of subject of thought may be rather a
relief than otherwise'! odd time! indeed you must be ignorant
profoundly of all that friendship or anxiety means when you
can use such pitiful narrow hearted expressions. The sen-
tence appears to have come from the pen of one of the Miss
Taylors. It is the puerility of thought & feeling of any
utterly headless & heartless pattern of propriety old maid.

As to 'odd time' I told you that I have not a moment un-
filled by things to be done when not actually standing by the
bedside or supporting the invalid — & as to 'change of sub-
ject of thought a relief! Good God shd you think it a relief to
think of somebody else some acquaintance or what not while
/ was dying? If so — but I will say no more about this — only

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1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

after such a mode of feeling on your part I feel it sacrilegious
to enter into any account of what I feel & suffer in this most
dreadful & most melancholy & most piteous case — my heart
is wrung with indignation & grief.

July 6:4 This disease seems to combine the evils of con-
sumption with those of acute distress — all the pains of ex-
haustion by slow wasting away with the terrible local char-
acteristics of its own. So terrible & frightful is this disease
that it is something to be glad of that he remains free from
pain — only those who have watched with the deep sympathy
of true affection & pity can fully estimate the infinite dis-
tinction there is between freedom from pain & freedom from
suffering. I am sure almost any pain is less bad (tho' not
perhaps less hard) to bear than this which he poor poor dear
calls so truly dying by inches.

However he has hours of comparative pleasure now — &
himself & those who don't hear the medical opinions seems
to flatter themselves he may be going on well — but they say
that tho' it is a wonderfully easy case of the kind, that others
suffer so very much more than he (the truth of which is that
no one I shd think was ever so well nursed) yet that the result
will be the same. For me after two days of feeling ill &
knocked up I have now recovered again. I am now feeling
scarcely tired.

The certainty of being really of the greatest use & quite
indispensable to him (or to any one) gives me a quantity of
strength and life — so that I feel sure my health will not suffer
— unless indeed the disease is contagious which I dare say it
is not — if it were we three who do all for him wd be sure of it.
However never mention this idea to them.

His sisters who come to see him & others say no one wd
think there was illness in his room it is so fresh and gay — &
this freshness & cheerfulness I am sure have much to do
with his ease & comfort & almost complete freedom from
nervous depression. Neither window nor door have been shut

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JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

either day or night for a month & the sight & scent of fresh
flowers & christal iced (?) water & all sorts of nice looking
things beguile him into a feeling of pleasure & cheat the low
spirits.

So all this incessant attention & effort to keep up his
spirits & also the long time it is now since I heard the dread-
ful truth, has combined to sink the deep grief & indignation
I feel below the surface — but I have so much to say to you
that no one but you could understand.

What a duping is life & what fools are men who seem bent
upon playing into the hands of the mischievous demons!
One comfort & hope lies in the fact that the worst they suffer
is from their own bad qualities, — but the good suffer with
the bad.

Perhaps you will enclose George's letter for H[aji] to me.
Tell me how you are. Take care of yourself for the world's
sake.

I cannot think how you have been silent all the while about
Roman heroism — never equalled — & the French utter base-
ness. I have been longing to write myself — the only person
who seems to feel it as strongly as I do is Landor & he seems
half-mad.

July 9 .•6 Will you send any Mag\ or Revs. you have, for
him — if you have any that is.

He has got, for July, the New Monthly & the Quarterly —

Especially I want the Edinburgh at the earliest possible.

Don't call again.

You have no notion what a mistake you make in saying
that it could be no more contagious than a fractured skull —
Any one who saw & watched this & thought so must already
have got a fractured skull. I have very little doubt that this is
as often contagious as Typhus or plague — It seems very like
the latter — probably all are contagious in circumstances — &
to persons predisposing or predisposed. However I cannot
now give my reasons for this opinion.

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1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

I have so very much to say which must wait.

What an iron despotism we live under, & who can wonder
that men are bad while they take the government of this
world for their model. I am glad to hear that the timid upper
classes think the Romans fine — if indeed they do so — but
Grote always paints his fine acquaintances couleur de rose.

That they dislike & condemn the French proceedings I
have no doubt.

Tocqueville is a notable specimen of the class which in-
cludes such people as the Stirlings Romillys Carlyles Austins
— the gentility class — weak in moral, narrow in intellect,
timid, infinitely conceited & gossiping. There are very few
men in this country who can seem other than more or less
respectable puppets to us.

Thus gradually, as she resigns herself to the inevitable conclusion of
her husband's suffering, other topics begin to enter into Mrs. Taylor's
thoughts and her correspondence. The first extraneous subject dis-
cussed, apparently still in May, was an application for money to Mill
made by G. J. Holyoake to help him in an attempt to obtain a uni-
versity degree. Mrs. Taylor advised 'to give but not unaccompanied
with a suitable lesson on this vain and senseless affectation'6 and Mill's
draft of the reply to Holyoake is fully commented upon by her.

H. T. to J. S. M., May (J) 1849 * I think it duty when you
tell him you will subscribe as he requests to tell him some of
your opinion on the very false and vicious sort of note it [his
note to Mill] is. I think it is impossible you can agree with
the humbug (even when translated into honest expressions it
is humbug) that hearing men lecture at London or any other
University is a means of improvement of knowledge, of
being 'learned', as he so boastfully and vulgarly calls it, such
as can never be equalled by reading. That lectures and lec-
turers such as exist at present are means of improvement
superior to all reading. Then this hypocritical cant about
'violating austere incorruptibility' — either the words are use-
less & therefore insincere braggadacio, or the man is 'violat-
ing etc' by his letter.

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JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

The whole thing in an honest man's language amounts to
this : I want to get a degree or some other University honour
to try to get on in the world. Are you disposed to help me
with a little money? This is the whole — while his note is like
all his a heap of boastful conceited vulgar insincerity & I
wish that he shd see or feel that you are not humbugged by
him. And this only because it feels to me immoral to let
falseness think itself more successful than honesty wd be
with true & intelligent people.

Soon a more important subject arose. Captain Antony Sterling, the
brother of Mill's friend John Sterling who had died not long before,
was at the time preparing for publication a collection of his brother's
letters. This never appeared, though it was later to serve Thomas
Carlyle for his Life of John Sterling. Apparently Captain Sterling had
applied to Mill for permission to include some of his letters to Sterling
as well as some passages about him, perhaps those in the correspondence
between Sterling and Carlyle which have been quoted earlier.

June? I had said nothing more about those letters lately
because I understood from your note a fortnight ago that it
was all decided that you meant to leave out all mention of
yourself in them & also to withdraw the letters addressed to
you. I supposed that this had been done & that the thing was
settled. I am quite sure that it ought to be done both in
justice & honour and as to the difficulty you find in doing it,
that does not seem to me great if, what is not the case, your
usual ways were exactly like those of ordinary people. In a
matter of taste & one wholly concerning yourself that you
should change your mind is certainly not fatally odd.

A further note evidently refers to the letter to be sent to 'Captain
Sterling.

June 30 :9 I think the words which I have put the pencil
through are better omitted — but they might with a little
alteration be placed at the end?

The reason I should give to Cap4 S. if a reason is asked, is
that the way in which you are mentioned in the letters is cal-

*57

1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

culated to give an erroneous impression of you. This is the
simple truth. The words I have added at the end do not go
quite right but you will make them do so. It is if possible as
desirable to get those passages omitted as your own letters.
Therefore something of the kind (like the words I have
added) should be said.

July 7- -8 (?):10 I have had but a few moments in which to
look at those extracts from S's letters. I cannot at all under-
stand, & I mean this wholly sincerely and not at all ironically,
how you could ever see with complacency or even with in-
difference such a quantity of misapprehension of your char-
acter to be published. I know that you place great vanity in
not being vain but with me a love of truth as well as vanity
wd make repugnant to me the myself giving the world an
appreciation of me made by an evident inferior who makes it
with all the air of judging from a height which is conceivable,
a second thing which hurts me intensely tho' it does not sur-
prise me is your perfect madness to put your own hand &
seal to the mention of your name & character soi-disant
appreciatingly by a man who you perceive was weak & fool-
ish enough to be in agreement with his correspondent in
judging your relation with some unknown woman in un-
known circumstances. Of course the old bugbear words
'married woman' were at the bottom of this unanimity of fear
& sorrow which these men honoured (or disgraced selon
moi) you with. Nowadays I shd have thought that with our
opinion we must thoroughly despise men who have not got
out of that baby morality & intellect. That you cd be willing
to have these things printed hurts me more deeply than any-
thing else I think cd do. It has disturbed my mind & feelings
even amidst these trying days & nights, but if you have
engaged yourself about them some of them must stand.

In what was probably the next note a different topic is taken up.

July jo:11 The enclosed paper marked A I wrote one
Sunday some weeks ago but did not send it feeling I had so

158

JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

ill expressed the fullness of my meaning. However another
case which I will enclose gives so admirable an occasion for
an article in the Daily News on the subject — against legaliz-
ing corporal -punishment ANYWHERE — public or private
— that I think it OUGHT to be written.

Mark this case — how there was no pretence of brutality or
violence in the offence that it shd be punished by brutal de-
gradation (you shd take care to copy in the report the words
middleaged man for tho' it adds nothing to our feeling it
strengthens the case as against the magistrates immensely
with the commonalty). Then do hit police magistrates in
general & Seeker in particular as hard as possible — all the
rest of the subject you will at once see as strongly & clearly
as I. How the most brutal attacks of personal violence are
sentenced to imprisonment only — how you never see a case of
that kind met by personal violence i.e. by corporal punish-
ment— how bad & disgusting as corporal punishment is
ever — if used it ought to be only for personal violence.

Enclosure A: Sunday evening.

My eye fell just now on the Examiner as it lay open with
an account of the trial of the young man who shot at the
Queen.

I see it reported that the newly revived barbarous & de-
grading punishment of flogging which ever since the offence
the Newspapers, especially the Examiner, have been gloating
over with disgusting toadying satisfaction is said to have
been omitted by especial desire of the Queen — now whether
this is so or not wd it not be an excellent opportunity to treat
the statement as true — to compliment for refusing so un-
worthy & disgusting a tribute as the revival of a brute de-
gradation as punishment of offences against her. Pointing
out that the offence was not of a Degraded or brutal kind but
of a wicked & grave kind, and that flogging is no more fit for
it than it wd be for murder, admiring too the unsovereignlike
magnanimity of punishing such a serious offence only as if it

159

1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

had been directed against the meanest subject. In fact the
punishment is not severe enough.

The second enclosure, probably a clipping from a newspaper, has
not been preserved and probably was used by Mill in writing the un-
headed and unsigned article which four days later appeared in the
Daily News of July 14 and is confirmed as Mill's by its inclusion in his
hand list of his publications.12

Since this is the best illustration we have of the manner in which
Mill expanded a brief suggestion of Mrs. Taylor's into an article which
he describes as 'a joint production, very little of which was mine', it
deserves a little fuller discussion. The magistrate had sentenced to a
fine and three months' imprisonment a man for illegally pawning
another person's gold watch and had added that if the prisoner omitted
to pay the fine and the estimated value of the watch 'within three days
of the expiration of his imprisonment he should be once publicly
whipped within the precincts of the gaol'. Mill makes this indeed the
occasion for a violent onslaught on police magistrates in general and
Mr. Seeker in particular, but while he in general closely follows Mrs.
Taylor's suggestions, he puts the main blame on the state of the law.
After complaining that

'Amidst our talk of reformatory treatment we are returning to the
most demoralizing, the most brutalizing because the most degrading
of punishments, the bastinado',

he proceeds with some comments on the particular case and then
continues

'If a brutal punishment can ever be appropriate, it is in a case of a
brutal offence. . . . But who ever hears of corporal punishment for
assault? One or two months imprisonment is all we hear of in the most
atrocious cases; while, if property is in question — if pounds, shillings
and pence have been tampered with, years of imprisonment, with hard
labour (not to mention transportation) are almost the smallest penalty.
And this is not peculiarly the fault of police magistrates. ... It is the
crime more especially of the legislators and of the superior courts. . . .
Because persons in the upper and middle ranks are not subject to
personal outrage, and are subject to having their watches stolen, the
punishment of blows is revived, not for those who are guilty of blows,
but for middle aged men who pawn watches. Is this to be endured?

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JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

'A few weeks ago, the punishment of flogging, in the case of the
young man who shot at the Queen, was omitted, it is said, at the
special desire of the Queen herself. The forebearance was uncompli-
mentary to the legislatorial wisdom which had recently enacted that
penalty as peculiarly fit for that particular offence: but no one can be
surprised by an example of good sense, good taste, and good feeling,
given by the Queen.

'The crime of Hamilton was not of a degraded or brutal kind,
though of a wicked and grave kind, deserving, in truth, and requiring,
a severer punishment than it received. To refuse so disgusting a tribute
as the revival of a brutalizing degradation as a punishment for offences
against herself, was a worthy lesson to legislators and judges; and it
was magnanimity, not like but most unlike a sovereign, to punish so
serious an offence only as if it had been directed against the meanest
subject. Would that her Majesty would take in hand this vast and vital
question of the extinction of personal violence by the best and surest
means — the illegalizing of corporal punishment, domestic as well as
judicial, at any age. We conscientiously believe that more large and
lasting good, both present and future, to the moral and social character
of the whole people, would be achieved by such an act of legislation,
than fifty years of legislative efforts without it would be required to
supply.'

A few days later all other concerns are again suspended by the
obvious approach of her husband's end.

July 16 :13 Monday. I have exceedingly wanted to write
about many things, but cannot find a moment.

Yesterday & to-day this sad sad tragedy seems drawing to
a close in the most piteous yet most patient & calm way.

Alas poor thing what a mocking life has been to him ! end-
ing in this fierce contest in which death gains inch by inch!

The sadness & horror of Nature's daily doings exceed a
million fold all the attempts of Poets ! There is nothing on
earth I would not do for him & there is nothing on earth
which can be done.

Do not write.

July j#;14 Wednesday. I cannot write much now, not on
account of the sorrow & distress for that has been as great for

J.S.M. l6l M

1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

weeks — but I find I am quite physically exhausted & faint
after two nights & a day of most anxious and sad watching,
ended by his gently breathing the last without a sigh or pang
at 3°/ck this morning. — I must defer saying anything till
this next week has passed — To me a very painful one — feel-
ing has to remain in abeyance while the many absolutely
necessary mechanical details are ordered & attended to by
me who never saw anything of the kind before & having no
person whatever but the three children to advise with — it is
the most trying time.

I do not know where he should be laid — having no con-
nection with any place — I have thought of either Kensal
Green or Hampstead as not too far? Tell me what you think !
Write to me enclosed to Herbert at Cross Street.

There is a person here who is medisance personified &
just now I wd not have a shadow of the kind — so for a few
days write to me only thus.

Julyig:15 Thursday. I want your opinion which is right &
best — about coming to the funeral next Wednesday. I have
no doubt your first impression is like mine, to say, of course
yes — The grounds of all I wish done at this time are twofold —
what the world thinks most respectful to him, & what he
would have wished. But the latter in this case is I think pretty
much included in the former, which is the reason I think at
all of the former. I wish everything done which can be honour-
able & respectful to him being the last testimony of the
affection I felt & feel for him & of the true & strong respect
he has added too so much during this illness — & in all this I
know you must truly sympathize. Nlyjirst impression about
your coming was a feeling of 'better not' grounded on the
sort of distance which of late existed. But now on much con-
sideration it seems to me in the first place that coming is cer-
tainly thought a mark of respect? Is it not? and that therefore
your not doing so will be a manque of that. Then again the
public in some degree & his public too have heard or are sure

162

JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH 1849

to hear (through Arthur if no other way) of the Dedication
— of our intimacy — & on the side of his relations, nor that I
know of on mine, there does not appear to be any medisance.
(Indeed the kindness & attention to me of all his relations is
as marked as the neglect of these by mine.)

Thus all who know or care to hear anything on the subject
must hear of great intimacy. Does not therefore absence seem
much more noticeable than coming? On the other hand
nothing is more true of common world than 'out of sight out
of mind' & thought about it may never occur to any one as
they are principally relations or daily associates who will
come. I fancy Herbert has like him a sort of Ostrich instinct,
like morally timid people, always not to do — while my instinct
is always to do.

Tell me by a note addressed here what you think or feel
about this.

My first impulse was against — my present is for — but the
reasons are so nearly balanced that an opinion of yours would
turn the scale.

Write soon — I will write again too — soon — I have de-
cided for Kensal Green. Tell me if there is choice as to situa-
tion there? I mean as to niceness, I know we can choose.

Do you know Gilbert Elliot? The clergyman? Is he not
incumbent somewhere near here? At Kensal Green I believe
one has to find ones own clergyman? Do you know? And
would it be a suitable thing to ask him?

Every detail without exception I have to order as there is
no one here but the three children. Herbert does the speak-
ing to the people. [He (?)] is gone to business to-day. I
thought the inserting it so soon in the Papers very ugly &
unpleasant but Herbert so insisted upon it on account of his
having to reply to so many enquiries, that I gave way — which
I repent. Tell me if it struck you as indecent haste?

There is one more letter mainly about the question whether Mill
should attend the funeral, on the whole more against, and it is not
known whether he did. The letter concludes:

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1849 JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

July 22 ;16 Of feelings & thoughts there is far too much to
be said in a note — I must see you soon — it occurs to me that
it might be well to go down to Walton to spend next Sunday
& that in that case you might come down for the Sunday.
As there is no one there but old Mrs. Delarne it wd not do
for any one to sleep there but me & Lily as she is too old to
do anything — but even a day would be much after such an
interval.

Soon after Mrs. Taylor had another severe breakdown of her health.

When John Taylor's will, made less than five months before his
death, was opened, it was found that he had left to his wife a life
interest in the whole of his property.

164

Chapter Eight

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH
MILL'S FAMILY

1851

/\ lthough nearly two years passed between John Taylor's
/—\ death and Mill's marriage to Harriet Taylor, the only
JL 3V significant documents which we have for this period are two
letters by Mill. The first of these can be dated only approximately.

J. S. M. to H. T.y about 18 50 :x thanks dearest dearest angel
for the note — what it contained was a really important addi-
tion to the letter & I have put it in nearly in your words,
which as your impromptu words almost always are, were a
hundred times better than any I could find by study. What
a perfect orator you would make — & what changes might be
made in the world by such a one, with such opportunities as
thousands of male dunces have. But you are to me, & would
be to any one who knew you, the type of Intellect — because
you have all the faculties in equal perfection — you can both
think, & impress the thought on others — & can both judge
what ought to be done & do it. As for me, nothing but the
division of labour could make me useful — if there were not
others with the capacities of intellect which I have not, where
would be the use of those I have — I am but fit to be one
wheel in an engine not to be the self moving engine itself — a
real majestic intellect, not to say moral nature, like yours, I

165

1850 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

can only look up to & admire — but while you can love me as
you so sweetly & beautifully shewed in that hour yesterday,
I have all I care for or desire for myself — & wish for nothing
except not to disappiont you — & to be so happy as to be
some good to you (who are all good to me) before I die. This
is a graver note than I thought it would be when I began it —
for the influence of that dear little hour has kept me in spirits
ever since — thanks to my one only source of good.

The second letter raises the subject which during the next few
months was to be the occasion for the article on the Enfranchisement
of Women. Since the 'Women's Rights Convention' at Worcester,
Massachusetts, to which it refers, took place on 23 and 24 October
1850 and was reported in the European edition of the New York
Tribune on 29 October, it cannot be of a much later date.

J. S. M. to H. T.y October J Nov ember 1850? You will tell
me my own dearest love, what has made you out of spirits. I
have been put in spirits by what I think will put you in spirits
too — you know some time ago there was a Convention of
Women in Ohio to claim equal rights — (& there is to be
another in May)3 well, there has just been a Convention for
the same purpose in Massachussets — chiefly of women, but
with a great number of men, including the chief slavery
abolitionists Garrison, Wendell Phillips, the negro Douglas4
&c. The New York Tribune contains a long report — most
of the speakers are women — & I never remember any public
meetings or agitation comparable to it in the proportion
which good sense bears to nonsense — while as to tone it is
almost like ourselves speaking — outspoken like America, not
frightened & senile like England — not the least iota of com-
promise— asserting the whole of the principle & claiming
the whole of the consequences, without any of the little
feminine concessions & reserves — the thing will evidently
not drop, but will go on till it succeeds, & I really do now
think that we have a good chance of living to see something
decisive really accomplished on that of all practical subjects
the most important — to see that will be really looking down

166

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

from Pisgah on the promised land — how little I thought we
should ever see it.

The days seems always short to me as they pass, the time
that seems long, the time that I am often impatient of the
length of, is the time till spring — the time till we have a
home, till we are together in our life instead of this unsatis-
factory this depressing coming and going, in which all dis-
agreeables have so much more power than belongs to them,
& the atmosphere of happiness has not time to penetrate &
pervade in the way I know so well even by the most im-
perfect experience & which then it will always

The article which during the following winter grew out of this and
finally appeared in the Westminster Review for July 1 85 1 is generally
described as by Mrs. Taylor. But while this is probably true enough so
far as the general argument is concerned, Mill's introduction to the
reprint of the article in Volume II of Dissertations and Discussions
makes one doubt how much it applies to the actual writing.5 He
describes it merely as, unlike the other 'joint productions' of the period,
as 'hers in a peculiar sense, my share in it being little more than that of
an editor and amanuensis'. The article must have been practically
completed by the time when Mill offered it to the editor of the
Westminster Review:

J. S. M. to W. E. Hickson:6 India House/3rd March 1851/
Dear Hickson — If you are inclined for an article on the
Emancipation of Women, a propos the Convention in Massa-
chussets which I mentioned to you the last time I saw you, I
have one nearly ready, which can be finished and sent to you
within a week, which, I suppose, is in time for your April
number.

Very truly yours,

J. S. Mill

To Hickson this must the more have appeared as a definite state-
ment that Mill was himself the author, as they had corresponded a year
earlier about the possibility of just such an article. It would seem most
unlikely that Mill should have used so definite a form of words if he
had not at the time himself so regarded it. Hickson appears at first to

167

1851 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

have answered that there was not likely to be room for the article in the
next issue, and when some days later he asked for the manuscript, Mill
had not made enough progress and the article had to wait for the July
issue.

It was thus fresh from the work on this article that Mill wrote out
that formal promise never to claim any rights that the law of marriage
would confer on him which has already appeared in Elliot's edition of
his letters:7

Being about, if I am so happy as to obtain her consent, to
enter into the marriage relation with the only woman I have
ever known, with whom I would have entered into that state ;
& the whole character of the marriage relation as constituted
by law being such as both she and I entirely & conscien-
tiously disapprove, for this amongst other reasons, that it con-
fers upon one of the parties to the contract, legal power &
control over the person, property, & freedom of action of the
other party, independent of her own wishes and will; I,
having no means of legally divesting myself of these odious
powers (as I most assuredly would do if an engagement to
that effect could be made legally binding on me) feel it my
duty to put on record a formal protest against the existing
law of marriage, in so far as conferring such powers ; and a
solemn promise never in any case or under any circumstances
to use them. And in the event of marriage between Mrs.
Taylor and me I declare it to be my will and intention, & the
condition of the engagement between us, that she retains in
all respects whatever the same absolute freedom of action, &
freedom of disposal of herself and of all that does or may at
any time belong to her, as if no such marriage had taken
place; and I absolutely disclaim & repudiate all pretension
to have acquired any rights whatever by virtue of such
marriage.

6th March 1851 J. S. Mill

About the same time Mill appears to have informed his family of
the intended marriage. It must have been then that his mother and his
two unmarried sisters, Clara and Harriet, with whom until then he

168

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1852

had been living in Kensington, committed the never to be forgiven
offence of not at once calling upon the lady whom until then they had
not been allowed to know and to whom they had probably not even
dared to allude. Very soon after Mrs. Taylor seems to have left
London with her younger son and her daughter for Melcombe Regis
whence Mill either accompanied or soon followed them to make final
arrangements for the wedding. Back in London on 1 1 April he
acknowledged briefly but in fairly cordial terms the congratulations of
his married sisters Willie and Jane.8 'No one ever was more to be con-
gratulated than I am', he wrote to the latter and to both he explained
that he and his wife will try to find during the summer a suitable house
a little way out of London and that they did not expect to set up house
before the autumn. But in a letter to his brother George in Madeira,
though he provided the invalid with news of political developments at
home, he made no allusion to the impending marriage.9

A few days later he returned to Dorsetshire for a fortnight's leave
around Easter and on Easter Monday, 21 April, the ceremony was
performed at the Register Office at Melcombe Regis, apparently in the
presence of only Algernon and Helen Taylor, who signed as witnesses.
A curious ostensible letter by Mill to his wife, of a somewhat later
date, which refers to an incident at the ceremony may be inserted
here.

J. S. M. to H. M., 13 July 18 52 : My dearest wife/Though
I am persuaded it is unnecessary for any practical purpose, it
will be satisfactory to me to put into writing the explanation
of an accidental circumstance connected with the registry of
our marriage at the Superintendant Registrar's Office at
Weymouth on the 21st of April iS^i. — Our marriage by
the Registrar Mr. Richards was perfectly regular, and was
attested as such by Mr. Richards and by the Superintendant
Registrar Mr. Dodson, in the presence of both of whom, as
well as of the two witnesses, we signed the register. But I was
not aware that it was necessary to sign my name at full length,
thinking that as in most other legal documents, the proper
signature was the ordinary one of the person signing; and
my ordinary signature being J. S. Mill, I at first signed in
that manner; but on being told by the Registrar that the

169

1852 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

name must be written at full length, I did the only thing
which occurred to me and what I believe the Registrar sug-
gested, that is, I filled in the remaining letters of my name.
As there was not sufficient space for them, they were not only
written very small and close, but not exactly in a line with
the initials and the surname, and the signature consequently
has an unusual appearance. The reason must be at once
apparent to any one who sees it, as it is obvious that J. S.
Mill was written first, and the remainder filled in afterwards.
It is almost superfluous to say that this is not stated for your
information — you being as well aware of it as myself, but in
order that there may be a statement in existence of the
manner in which the signature came to present this unusual
appearance. It cannot possibly affect the legality of our mar-
riage, which I have not the smallest doubt is as regular and
valid as any marriage can be; but so long as it is possible that
any doubt could for a moment suggest itself either to our own
or to any other minds, I cannot feel at ease, and therefore,
unpleasant as I know it must be to you, I do beg you to let us
even now be married again, and this time in a church, so that
hereafter no shadow of a doubt on the subject can ever arise.
The process is no doubt disagreeable, but I have thought
much and anxiously about it, and I have quite made up my
mind that however annoying the fact, it is better to undergo
the annoyance than to let the matt[er]10 remain as it is.
Therefore I hope you will comply with my earnest wish —
and the sooner it is done the better.

your

J. S. Mill
July 13th 1852

Mrs. J. S. Mill,/Blackheath Park

It does not seem that such a further ceremony as Mill suggested
actually took place and it is to be hoped that Mrs. Mill laughed him
out of his apprehensions.

Mill was back in London a week after the wedding and very soon
after this engaged in reading the proofs of the article on the Enfran-

170

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

chisement of Women which was probably completed during the stay
at Melcombe Regis.

The marriage led to the most painful episode in Mill's life, his com-
plete break with his mother and her other children. The real cause of
this is obscure and it seems to have been almost as unintelligible to his
relations as to us. Twenty-two years later his sister Harriet still could
only say that while 'up to the time of his marriage he had been every-
thing to us. . . . It was a frightful blow to lose him at once and forever,
without even a word of explanation, — only in evident anger.'11 The
nearest approach to an account of what happened we get in a letter in
which his youngest sister tried a few months after the marriage to
remonstrate with Mill against his behaviour towards his mother and
the two unmarried sisters in London. Mary Colman was then a young
woman of thirty-one and since her marriage four years before was
living in the country with her growing family. Her husband Charles
Colman seems to have belonged to the Calvinistic sect of Plymouth
Brethren and Mary herself to have been at least a devout Christian.12

Mary E. Colman to J. S. M.;13 July 18th 1851/My dear
John/In thinking over the strange change which appears to
have taken place in your character, which has taken place in
your conduct towards your family, during the last six months
whilst striving to feel indifferent towards you, I felt that even
now I loved you too much for such indifference, and I trust
that a worthier feeling had gained possession of me, when I
determined honestly to write and remonstrate with you on
your present conduct. Under these circumstances I could not
help recalling the letters which you sent me immediately
before my marriage, letters which first made me aware that
individually I was an object of no interest to you, that you
had no affection for me.

Believe me I bear you no resentment for the bitter pangs
which this conviction forced on me by yourself gave me ; I
never felt the least resentfully — I thought that I had perhaps
been presumptuous that the expressions of kindness which
you had been in the habit of using towards me, the uniform
kindness you had shown me, I had no right to suppose pro-
ceeded from love to myself, but from a principle of not giving

171

1851 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

others needless pain. I had wondered sometimes to see you
(in a less degree perhaps) kind to others of whom I had heard
you speak in a way which had made me know you did not
respect them; I however felt assured that this was from the
same principle. Although however I felt no resentment, I felt
less respect, I no longer could feel that you were unerring. I
felt that you had been needlessly cruel in your manner of tell-
ing me this, and that however much I might have dis-
appointed you in other respects the love I bore you even if I
had been the dirt under your feet deserved it not

On recovering a little from the severe 'agony' (for I will
tell you the truth) which your letters gave me, letters which
you have probably forgotten but which I have never yet had
the courage to reopen, I determined that I would never again
love you or any human creature to such a degree as to cause
me such grief — But now when I find you acting unworthily
towards others, I try to feel that your lowering yourself is
nothing to me but in vain (?), and a voice within me urges me
at least to endeavour to do you the only service that may ever
be in my power to tell you the whole truth.

When Clara left this house December last she was con-
gratulating herself in returning to a home, for some reasons
which you know, unpleasant to her, that at least your society
your kindness would compensate her for all besides. How
great then was my surprise to find that you were behaving in
the beginning as if she had affronted you in some way that
finally after you had announced your intended marriage your
behaviour became more extraordinary still, that in fact Clara
was suffering intensely, the truth of which when once stated
by herself no one would doubt who knew as you do how
undemonstrative and uncomplaining she is by nature.

That you showed no interest in them or their concerns,
these were negative, but positive acts of unkindness were not
wanting. That at last your presence which used always to
bring happiness, had become painful to the last degree

I ask you now yourself if such conduct is worthy of you —

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MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

If it would be well if all brothers were to act in the same way.
And finally I ask you how you could act so to Clara who
valued you not for your reputation or any other advantages
which you could bring to her, but for yourself, thoroughly
unselfishly. I tell you now and one day you may know your-
self that you have cast away a pearl of great price. And for
what? What has she done, what has anyone done, what do
you alledge. I can find nothing except that my mother did
not call on your wife the day after you had announced your
engagement, the propriety of which step as a matter of Eti-
quette remains to be settled. Anyhow however you know full
well, that if you had only expressed a wish to my Mother on
the subject anything would have been done. But even sup-
posing that their behaviour had been bad which I cannot
believe was that any justification for yours.

Before your marriage I trusted that anxiety and the
absorbing nature of a very strong attachment might account
for your appearing to forget or to be utterly indifferent to
their feelings though even you must have known what a
blank your mere absence would create.

But since your marriage — How bitterly cruel to refuse to
see [?] at the India House, who if she had faults loved you
enough to suffer from such a refusal. Then the farce of your
fashionable call, at Kensington and your evident dread lest
any of your family should show the least affection for you. It
was well for Clara that she felt herself unequal weakened by
her passage from France, to see you without exhibiting emo-
tion before your wife, since even I determined as I was not to
let your conduct influence me in my conduct towards your
wife and steeled as I fancied myself, felt a difficulty in bear-
ing the sensation your iciness struck into me.

Again when Clara determined that your conduct should
not make her behave ill to your wife called on her, how did
you drive her from your door; and poor little Clara King14
whom your wife had expressed a wish to see and who went
anxious to see Hadji and Lilla about whom her Uncle

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1851 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

George had written her. Finally your last letter, how needless
an insult, and how unworthy of a man of the least sense, in
the first place you knew that your sisters would not lie about
your wife and if my Mother has ever erred it has been in
speaking so warmly in favour of a person of whom personally
she knew nothing, and with regard to the piece of mis-
chievous gossip which you chose to believe, I should have
thought that you, who have already suffered so much from
such things ought to have been the last to have given ear to
them.

Do not imagine that I attribute to the influence of your
wife this conduct of yours. I have none but good feelings
towards her, I was no liar when I told you I wished to know
her, I had long wished it, before I ever thought of her be-
coming your wife — Why were you not open with me, why
did you not tell me when you answered my letter, that you
did not wish that she should know your sisters, you would
have spared yourself and your family much pain.

One word more before I close this letter, which may be the
last you ever receive from me; As regards the unfortunate
estrangement which has taken place between you and George
now for some years, and which was increased by some occur-
rences which took place when I last saw you at Kensington
now more than a year ago, you may remember that /was the
only one who told you you were unjust in your judgment of
him, I knew George better than you did, and I told you you
were mistaken. I had known George in his unreserved mo-
ments and from childhood and although we had never spoken
on the subject I felt convinced that had you not yourself
destroyed your influence over him, by showing at some time
or other that you were ashamed of him and thought nothing
of him, did not love him, you might have led him in any
direction, so great was his respect for you as a man. But you
must have shown him that you were afraid of his disgracing
you. From such a sway he turned away, had you trusted him
as a man, with a noble heart and as he deserved, you would

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MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

never have had occasion to say he 'never had a character'. I
should have told you this had I had an opportunity of being

with you alone, at that time I tell it you now because it

may be my last opportunity.

And now Good Bye. I have prayed that this letter may
touch your heart for we differ 'as you observed' in our
opinions or rather say convictions, but this difference has not
made me love you less, and in striving each day to become
more Christian I feel that I shall love you more really.

I finish a painful task with one last request, urging you by
the only feeling that now seems remaining to you, 'your love
for your wife' not to throw this from you as coming from one
of a family now evidently hateful to you, but to read it
through without irritation, judge from what motives it has
sprung, and ask yourself if your present course is likely to
conduce to her happiness.

Ever your affte Sister

Mary Elizabeth Colman

PS. If this should close all intercourse between us as I
think possible it will be to me very painful, but at least the
sting will be wanting of thinking that I have shrunk from
the duty of honesty towards you.

Mill's reply to this and a further letter from Mary are not pre-
served. We may however form some conception of their tone when we
see the withering replies which Mrs. Mill and Mill himself addressed
to his youngest brother George in Madeira. The latter's letter which
caused these retorts seems harmless enough, although we do not have
the letter to Haji which accompanied it and which apparently gave the
main offence.

George Grote Mill to H. M.:15 Funchal May 20th 1851/
Dear Madam,/Though I have only heard at second hand, of
your recent marriage with my brother, and know nothing
certain except the bare fact, I will not pass over such an event
in silence. My brother wrote to me a letter by the mail of
April 9th but not a word wrote he then, had he written
before, or has he written since of what I can only conclude

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1851 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

he must have thought me either uninterested in, or undeserv-
ing to know. I don't know therefore what changes your
union will make in your mode of life, if any. It would give
me the greatest pleasure to hear that J. was free of the tether
which binds him to the City & you to the neighbourhood of
London. Twenty-five years work at the I. House, believe
me, is as much as any man can well bear. I fear his generosity
in money matters, has made his leaving the office difficult,
but surely with his power of work & Established reputation,
he could earn enough money by writing for the press much
more easily & with much greater advantage to others than
by his present employment. I believe his work already pub-
lished would have given him an income if he had not made
such easy bargains with his publishers.

I have not heard how your health is since I saw you in
person & though I then thought your looking much stronger
than when I had seen you last, you complained of it: pray let
me hear sometime or other. If you feel in me any part of the
interest which I feel in you all, you will not leave me in entire
darkness.

My own health continues pretty good. I am prosecuting
the silk business, though it advances slowly towards a profit-
able conclusion. In the meantime I am endeavouring to earn
a little money by writing. I have a long art. in the last No. of
the British Quarterly (on volcanoes and earthquakes) but
there is nothing original in it.

Believe me/dear Mrs. Taylor (I can't forget the old name)

Yours affectly

Geo G. Mill

As I don't know your present address I send this to Cross
St.16 I am writing to Hadjy./Kind regards to Lily.

H. M. to George Grote Mi//, Richmond, 5 July 1851:17 I do
not answer your letter because you deserve it — that you cer-
tainly do not — but because tho I am quite inexperienced in
the best way of receiving or replying to an affront I think that

176

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

in this as in all things, frankness and plain speaking are the
best rule, as to me they are the most natural — also it is best
that every one should speak for themselves. Your letters to
me & to Haji must be regarded as one, being on the same
subject & sent together to us. In my opinion they show want
of truth modesty & justice to say little of good breeding or
good nature which you appear to regard as very unnecessary
qualities.

Want of justice is shown in suggesting that a person has
probably acted without regard to their principles which
principles you say you never [?]. Want of modesty in passing
judgment on a person thus far unknown to you — want of
everything like truth in professing as you do a liking [?] for
a person who in the same note you avoid calling by their
name using an unfriendly designation after having for years
addressed them in to say the least a more friendly way. In
fact want of truth is apparent in the whole, as your letters
overflow with anger & animosity about a circumstance
which in no way concerns you so far anything you say shows
& which if there was any truth in your profession of regard
shd be a subject of satisfaction to you. As to want of the good
breeding which is the result of good feeling that appears to
be a family failing.

The only small satisfaction your letter can give is the
observation that when people desert good feeling they also
are deserted by good sense — your wish to make a quarrel
[?] with your brother & myself because we have used a right
which the whole world, of whatever shade of opinion, accords
to us, is as absurd as unjust and wrong.

Harriet Mill

Possibly this letter was never sent and the following of Mill's dis-
patched instead.

J. S. M. to George Grote Mill, India House, 4 August 18 51 ;18
I have long ceased to be surprised at any want of good sense
or good manners in what proceeds from you — you appear to

j.s.m. 177 N

1851 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

be too thoughtless or too ignorant to be capable of either —
but such want of good feeling, together with such arrogant
assumption, as are shown in your letters to my wife & to
Haji I was not prepared for. The best construction that can
be put upon them is that you really do not know what in-
solence & presumption are: or you would not write such
letters & seem to expect to be as well liked as before by those
to whom & of whom they are written. You were 'surprised',
truly, at our marriage & do not 'know enough of the circum-
stances to be able to form an opinion on the subject'. Who
asks you to form an opinion? An opinion on what? Do men
usually when they marry consult the opinion of a brother
twenty years younger than themselves? or at my age, of any
brother or person at all? But though you form no 'opinion'
you presume to catechize Haji respecting his mother, & to
call her to account before your tribunal for the conformity
between her conduct & her principles — being at the same
time as you say yourself, totally ignorant what your principles
are. On the part of any one who avowedly does not know
what her principles are, the surmise that she may have acted
contrary to them is gratuitous impertinence. To every one
who knows her it would be unnecessary to say that she has,
in this as in all things, acted according to her principles.
What imaginary principles are they which should prevent
people who have known each other the greater part of their
lives, during which her & Mr. Taylor's house has been
more a home to me than any other, and who agree perfectly
in all their opinions, from marrying?

You profess to have taken great offence because you knew
of our intended marriage 'only at second hand'. People
generally hear of marriages at 'second hand', I believe. If
you mean that I did not write to you on the subject, I do not
know any reason you had to expect that I should. I informed
your mother & sisters who I knew would inform you & I
did not tell them of it on account of any right they had to be
informed, for my relations with any of them have been

178

MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1851

always of too cool & distant a kind to give them the slightest
right or reason to expect anything more than ordinary civility
from me — & when I did tell them I did not receive ordinary
civility in return. In the dissertation on my character with
which you favour Haji, you show yourself quite aware that
it has never been my habit to talk to them about my concerns
— & assuredly the feelings you have shown to me in the last
two or three years have not been so friendly as to give me any
cause for making an exception. As for the 'mystery' which on
my father's authority you charge me with, if we are to bandy
my father's sayings I could cite plenty of them about all his
family except the younger ones, compared with which this
is very innocent. It could be said at all but as a half joke — &
every one has a right to be mysterious if they like. But I
have not been mysterious, for I had never anything to be
mysterious about. I have not been in the habit of talking
unasked about my friends, or indeed about any other subject.

J. S. M.

A similar letter appears to have descended on George Mill from
Algernon Taylor and a paragraph of his reply to it explains a little
further the expressions which had given so much offence.

George Grote Mill to Algernon Taylor; Funchal, 27 September
1851:19 Believing that your mother would generally rather
discourage than encourage the marriage of others I certainly
was at first surprised to find her giving so deliberate an
example of marriage in her own case; in which moreover
there seemed to me less to be gained than in almost any
marriage I could think of. I certainly took sufficient interest
in both parties to wish to solve the matter in my own mind &
fancied (erroneously it now appears) that I might express my
feelings to you without giving offence; but you have placed
yourself on stilts & decline all confidential intercourse; so the
matter ends. As your letter alludes chiefly to your mother I
must observe that you ought to know that I am quite incap-
able of being impertinent to her, a charge which I think you

179

1852 MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY

might leave her to make when she finds any impertinence in
my letters to her.

Here this particular correspondence presumably ended and there
was probably little more intercourse between J. S. Mill or his wife
and young George Mill until three years later the latter put an end
to his life shortly before he would inevitably have died of consumption.
But his sisters Clara and Harriet in London and Mary Colman, urged
on by their mother, continued their efforts at a reconciliation.

Clara Esther Mill to J. S. M.:*° 4 Westbourne Park Villa/
March 3rd [i852]/Dear John/I am sorry to hear from my
Mother that you considered I had been wanting in civility to
Mrs. Mill, I certainly never meant to be so, nor indeed do I
think I have, though it is evident that you have had a strong
impression that such was the case with the family ever since
your marriage — quite erroneously however I believe. I am
entirely at a loss to imagine in what my incivility has con-
sisted. I (and I alone of those in this house) have seen your
correspondence with Mary & George in which you state
clearly enough your opinions of us all, and that there are
some of us, myself among the rest, whom you hold in the
same estimation as my father did. I cannot therefore be the
acquaintance of a person who 'only deserves common civility
from you' which you seek for your wife, especially as you
do it not on the score of relationship. What then am I to
understand? You are, to use George's words 'a great and
good man' and you see farther than I do. I do not therefore
pretend to judge you, I only cannot understand you, but
under such circumstances to have any personal intercourse
with you, could only be painful, and tho' I by no means
admit that I deserve your contempt, I do not conceive that
my acquaintance can be of any importance to your wife. We
did not seek each other's acquaintance before her marriage
nor ever should have done so — on what ground then begin
it now?

This may after all not be the subject of your complaint —

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MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH MILL'S FAMILY 1852

nor is it of much consequence, we have failed to understand
each other in an apparent intimacy of 40 years it is therefore a
hopeless case, and with sorrow but most decidedly I wish to
give up the appearance.

C. E. Mill

After drafting a reply to this21 Mill seems to have confined himself
to answer it and a similar note from his sister Harriet in a brief letter
to his mother.

J. S. M. to Mrs. James Mill, India House, 5 March 1852 :22
My dear Mother/ 1 received yesterday two most silly notes
from Clara & Harriet filled with vague accusations. They
say that when you called at the I.H. on Monday I 'com-
plained to you of their incivility to my wife'. I did no such
thing. Another charge is that I repeated idle gossip in a note
to you last summer — this is untrue. George Fletcher called at
the I.H. a day or two before I wrote that note to you &
asked after my wife saying he was sorry to hear she was not
well. I asked where he had heard that; he said he was told
so at Kensington, & this I mentioned in my note to you; no
one else had anything to do with it. This was not 'gossip'.

I hope you are not the worse for your journey to I.H.

YrsafP

J. S. M.

181

Chapter Nine

ILLNESS
1851-1854

It was probably only after their return from a holiday in France
and Belgium in September 1851 that Mill and his wife set up
house together. Blackheath Park, where they had taken a house,
was then still a rural district at the outskirts of London and the house
itself facing 'a wide open space of rolling meadow bounded far off by a
blue outline of distant hills'.1 It was accessible from London only by
railway and, although Mill made the daily train journey to the City,
this placed them effectively outside the social contacts of the metro-
polis. The efforts of some old friends, such as Lord Ashburton,2 to
make the marriage the occasion for drawing them back into social life,
proved unavailing, while others appear deliberately to have omitted
even the ordinary courtesy calls.3 Their only guests, usually for week-
ends, seem to have been a few old friends such as W. J. Fox and his
daughter or an occasional foreign scholar. Even fairly close friends of
the period, such as the philosopher Alexander Bain, apparently were
never asked to Blackheath Park during Mrs. Mill's life, and Mill
himself never went into society, except six or seven times a year to the
meetings of the Political Economy Club where he frequently opened
the discussions.4 The other members of the household were Mrs.
Mill's two younger children, Algernon and Helen Taylor. Her elder
son, Herbert, who had taken over his father's business, remained in
town and appears to have married soon afterwards.

Of the daily routine of the life at Blackheath Park we get a glimpse
in a passage of a letter by Helen Taylor to her mother written a few
years later at the beginning of her first prolonged absence.

182

ILLNESS 1856

Helen Taylor to H. M., Newcastle, 23 November 1856 ;5 I
like to think about nine o'clock that you are talking with
him. I feel very unhappy at three because you are at dinner
and I am not there to help you. I grow impatient at five
because he has not come in but at six it is pleasant to think
that he is making tea and you have got my letter [which he
has brought home].

A different recollection by Algernon Taylor which shows Mill in a
little known role may also be given a place here:

'Mr. Mill, who used, now and then, to perform on the piano, but
only when asked to do so by my mother; and then he would at once
sit down to the instrument, and play music entirely of his own com-
position, on the spur of the moment: music of a singular character,
wanting, possibly, in the finish which more practice would have im-
parted, but rich in feeling, vigour, and suggestiveness: the performer
taking for his theme, may be, the weird grandeur of cloud and storm,
the deep pathos of a dirge, the fierce onset of the battlefield, or the
triumphant, joyous time of a processional march. When he had
finished, my mother would, perhaps, enquire what had been the idea
running in his mind, and which had formed the theme of the im-
provisation— for such it was, and a strikingly characteristic one too.'6

The quiet and retired life to which Mill and his wife had hoped to
settle down did not long remain undisturbed, however. Probably even
the first two years, for which we have practically no documents, were
clouded by ill health. But these years were still a time of fairly normal
activities. Of the very small amount of publications listed by Mill for
this period it is stated of an article in the Morning Chronicle of
28 August 1 85 1, on the need for protection of wives and children from
brutal husbands and fathers, that 'like all my newspaper articles on
similar subjects, and most of my articles on all subjects, [it] was a joint
production with my wife';7 and with regard to the small pamphlet on
the same subject printed for private distribution in 18538 the same list
says: 'In this I acted chiefly as amanuensis to my wife'. Of Mill's only
major publication of these years, the article on 'Whewell's Moral
Philosophy', which he contributed to the Westminster Review, with its
strong attack on Whewell's intuitionist theory of morals, we can at
least be certain that it had Mrs. Mill's full sympathy. During the seven

183

1853 ILLNESS

and a half years between their marriage and Mrs. Mill's death only
one other more substantial article appeared, the article on Grote's
History of Greece to which we shall have to refer presently. Most of
what he wrote then appeared only at a later date.

The first major task to which the Mills turned after commencing
life at Blackheath Park was the thorough revision of the Political
Economy for the third edition which appeared in the spring of 1852. It
is the most comprehensive revision the book underwent and represents
a considerable further advance towards socialism. But as they were
together at the time we have no documents to show us the part Mrs.
Mill took in the task.

In 1853 not only Mrs. Mill's health, which had been precarious so
long, was decidedly deteriorating, but Mill himself was also showing
increasing signs of serious illness. Towards the end of August he took
his wife to Sidmouth in Devonshire, where she stayed for a short
period while Mill returned to his work at India House. Of the five of
Mill's letters to her written to Sidmouth which are extant,9 one may be
given in full.

J. S. M. to H. M.: India House/ Aug. 29, 1853/ This is
the first time since we were married my darling wife that we
have been separated & I do not like it at all — but your
letters are the greatest delight & as soon as I have done read-
ing one I begin thinking how soon I shall have another. Next
to her letters the greatest pleasure I have is writing to her. I
have written every day since Friday [August 26] except the
day there was no post — I am glad the cause of your not
getting Saturday's letter was the one I guessed & that you
did get it at last. This time I have absolutely nothing to tell
except my thoughts, & those are wholly of you. As for
occupation, after I get home I read as long as I can at the
thick book10 — yesterday evening I fairly fell asleep over it,
but I shall read it to the end, for I always like to get to the
latest generalizations on any scientific subject & that in
particular is a most rapidly progressive subject just at pre-
sent & is so closely connected with the subject of mind &
feeling that there is always a chance of something practically
useful turning up. I am very much inclined to take the Essay

184

ILLNESS 1853

on Nature11 again in hand & rewrite it as thoroughly as I
did the review of Grote12 — that is what it wants — it is my
old way of working & I do not think I have ever done any-
thing well which was not done in that way. I am almost sorry
about the engagement with Lewis13 about India as I think it
would have been a much better employment of the time to
have gone on with some of our Essays. We must finish the
best we have got to say, & not only that, but publish it while
we are alive. I do not see what living depository there is
likely to be of our thoughts, or who in this weak generation
that is growing up will even be capable of thoroughly master-
ing & assimilating your ideas, much less of re-originating
them — so we must write them & print them, & then they
can wait until there are again thinkers. But I shall never be
satisfied unless you allow ou[r]14 best book the book which is
to come, to have our two names on the title page. It ought to
be so with everything I publish, for the better half of it all is
yours, but the book which will contain our best thoughts, if
it has only one name to it, that should be yours. I should like
everyone to know that I am the Dumont & you the originat-
ing mind, the Bentham, bless her!

I hope the weather has improved as much with you as it
has here — but it does not look settled yet — with all loving
thoughts and wishes

J. S. Mill

In signing this letter with his full name Mill departed for once from
an almost invariable practice of himself and his wife, whose letters to
each other generally lacked both the usual commencement and
signature.

As Mrs. Mill's health apparently had not improved at Sidmouth and
Mill's condition was getting worse, they were soon after ordered
abroad by their doctor. Mill obtained leave of absence for the last
three months of the year, which they spent at Nice. Although they
themselves long refused to believe it, they were evidently both in fairly
advanced states of consumption and this appears to have been suffi-
ciently apparent to Mill's friends at India House to make them doubt

185

1854 ILLNESS

whether they would ever see him again. At Nice Mrs. Mill had a
severe haemorrhage of which she nearly died and Mill's own symptoms
continued to get worse, but he still tried to convince himself that it was
not the fatal 'family disease', as he calls it in the Autobiography, of
which his father and two of his brothers had died.15 At the end of the
year he even returned to London and his work at India House after
he had taken Mrs. Mill to Hyeres where she was to stay until the
beginning of the spring. All but two of the thirty-eight carefully
numbered letters written by Mill to her during this period have been
preserved. They give a minute picture of the progressive deterioration
of his health during the next few months. Of Mrs. Mill's pencilled
notes which he received in reply we have only one, because Mill
burnt all the others at her request.

Mill's return to London in the middle of the winter took him almost
ten days and must have put no small strain on the invalid. First by
diligence to Marseilles, then by train to Avignon and again by diligence
and omnibus to Lyons and Chalons, and finally with the railroad to
Paris and Boulogne; he had the extra misfortune of being snowed up
in the train for twenty-four hours on the last lap of this journey. The
first letter from London, written on the day of his arrival, reports on
the return home and to India House.

J. S. M. to H. M., India House, 6 January 1854: [Ellice] as
well as Hill Thornton & others asked the questions that
might be expected about your health & in a manner which
showed interest — Peacock16 alone asked not a single ques-
tion about your health & hardly about mine but struck into
India House subjects & a visit he had from James.17 Grote
& Prescott18 called together today, as they said to inquire
whether I was returned & very warm, especially Grote, in
their expressions of sympathy & interest about your illness.
It is odd to see the sort of fragmentary manner in which
news gets about — Grote had heard of you as dangerously ill
but not of my being ill at all, & of your illness as a fever but
not of the rupture of a blood vessel. Grote is vastly pleased
with the article in the Edinburgh — a propos I found here a
letter from Mrs. Grote, of complimentation on the article,
which though little worthy of the honour of being sent to you

186

ILLNESS 1854

I may as well inclose. The impudence of writing to me at all
& of writing in such a manner is only matched by the exces-
sive conceit of the letter. Grote alluded to it saying that Mrs.
Grote had written to me after reading the article — I merely
answered that I had found a note from her on arriving.

Two days later Mill commenced the 'experiment' of trying to note
down in a little book 'at least one thought per day which is worth writ-
ing down'. These notes, which he continued during the whole period
of his wife's absence, have been printed in full forty years ago.19 But as
some of them gain new significance and poignancy from the knowledge
of the circumstances under which they were written, some passages
from this 'diary' will be reproduced here together with the extracts
from the letters.

J. S. M.'s Diary, 9 January, 1854: What a sense of protec-
tion is given by the consciousness of being loved, and what
an additional sense, over and above this, by being near the
one by whom one is and wishes to be loved the best. I have
experience at present of both these things; for I feel as if no
really dangerous illness could actually happen to me while I
have her to care for me; and yet I feel as if by coming away
from her I had parted with a kind of talisman, and was more
open to the attacks of the enemy than while I was with her.

J. S. M. to H. M., India House, 9 January 1854: The
Kensington letters I inclose, as it is best you should see all
that comes from that quarter — & along with them a note I
have just written to my mother. I have looked through the
Edinburgh Review for October — the article on Grote reads,
to my mind, slighter & flimsier than I thought it would.
There is another article by Greg on Parly reform20 shewing
that he had seen our letter to Ld Monteagle21 (the one Mar-
shall writes about) for he has adopted nearly every idea in the
letter almost in the very words, & has also said speaking of
the ballot, that it is within his knowledge that some to whom
ballot was once a sine qua non, now think it would be 'a step
backward' the very phrase of the letter. He goes on to attack

187

1854 ILLNESS

the ballot with arguments some of them so exactly the same
as those in our unpublished pamphlet22 (even to the illustra-
tions) that one would think he had seen that too if it had been
physically possible. Though there are some bad arguments
mixed yet on the whole this diminishes my regret that ours
was not published. It is satisfactory that those letters we took
so much trouble to write for some apparently small purpose
(?), so often turn out more useful than we expected. Now
about reviewing Comte:23 the reasons pro are evident. Those
con are, I . I don't like to have anything to do with the name
or with any publication of H. Martineau. 2ffly the West1
though it will allow I dare say anything else, could not allow
me to speak freely about Comte's atheism, & I do not see
how it is possible to be just to him, when there is so much to
attack, without giving him praise on that part of the subject.
3dly, as Chapman is the publisher he doubtless wishes, &
expects, an article more laudatory on the whole, than I
shd be willing to write. You dearest one will tell me what
your perfect judgment & your feeling decide.

J. S. M. to H. M., Blackheath Park, 16 January 1854:
About Mrs. Grote's letter, my darling is I daresay right. It
did not escape me that there was that amende, & I should
have felt much more indignant if there had not. But what
was to my feeling like impudent, though impudent is not
exactly the right word, was, that after the things she has said
& done respecting us, she should imagine that a tardy sort
of recognition of you, & flattery to me, would serve to
establish some sort of relation between us & her. It strikes
me as deplace to answer the letter, especially so long after it
was written, but her having made this amende might make
the difference of my asking how she is, at least when he
mentions her. That is about as much, I think, as her good
intentions deserve. — I will, dear, say to Grote what she
wishes, & the best opportunity will be the first time he writes
a note to me in that form. I do not, and have not for years,

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ILLNESS 1854

addressed him as Mr. — & it is very dull of him not to have
taken the hint. — I am getting on with India house work but
the arrear will take me a long time — I worked at it at home
all yesterday (Sunday) & got through a good deal. Sunday,
alas, is not so different from other days as when she is here
— though more so than when I am quite with her. I am
reading, in the evenings, as I said I would do, Sismondi's
Italian Republics which I read last in 1838, before going to
Italy. Having seen many of the places since makes it very
interesting.

I. H. 17th. This morning I watched the loveliest dawn &
sunrise & felt that I was looking directly to where she is &
that that sun came straight from her. And now here is the
Friday's letter which comes from her in a still more literal
sense. I am so happy that the cough is better & that she is
in better spirits. How kindly she writes about the keys, never
mind darling. I have bought one set of flannels since. I am
glad she likes the note to Sykes. As for Chapman's request,
the pro was the great desire I feel to atone for the overpraise
I have given Comte & to let it be generally known to those
who know me what I think on the unfavourable side about
him. The reason that the objection which you feel so
strongly & which my next letter afterwards will have shown
that 1 felt too, did not completely decide the matter with me,
was that Chapman did not want a review of this particular
book, but of Comte & I could have got rid of H.M.'s part
in a sentence, perhaps without even naming her. I shd cer-
tainly have put Comte's own book at the head along with
hers & made all the references to it. But malgre cela I dis-
liked the connexion, & now I dislike it still more, & shall at
once write to C. to refuse — putting the delay of an answer
upon my long absence so that he may not think I hesitated.

J. S. M.'s Diary > ig January 1854: I feel bitterly how I
have procrastinated in the sacred duty of fixing in writing,
so that it may not die with me, everything that I have in

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1854 ILLNESS

mind which is capable of assisting the destruction of error
and prejudice and the growth of just feelings and true
opinions. Still more bitterly do I feel how little I have done
as an interpreter of the wisdom of one whose intellect is as
much profounder than mine as her heart is nobler. If I ever
recover my health, this shall be amended; and even if I do
not, something may, I hope, be done towards it, provided a
sufficient respite is allowed me.

J. S. M. to H. M.y India House, 20 January 1854: I write
every evening in the little book. I have been reading the
Essay on Nature as I rewrote the first part of it before we left
& I think it very much improved & altogether very pass-
able. I think I could finish it equally well.

J. S. M. to H. M., 23 January 1854: I too have thought
very often lately about the life & am most anxious that we
should complete it the soonest possible. What there is of it is
in a perfectly publishable state. As far as the writing goes it
could be printed tomorrow — & it contains a full writing out
as far as anything can write out, what you are, as far as I am
competent to describe you, & what I owe to you — but,
besides that until revised by you it is little better than
unwritten, it contains nothing about our private circum-
stances, further than shewing that there was an intimate
friendship for many years, & you only can decide what more
is necessary or desirable to say in order to stop the mouths
of enemies hereafter. The fact is that there is about as much
written as I can write without your help & we must go
through this together & add the rest to it at the very first
opportunity — I have not forgotten what she said about
bringing it with me to Paris.

Meanwhile Mill's health was getting constantly worse, though for
a time his doctor continued to assure him that there was 'no organic
disease'.

J. S. M. to H. M., 2g January 1854: I have been feeling
much (I must have been incapable of feeling anything if I

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ILLNESS 1854

did not) about the shortness and uncertainty of life & the
wrongness of having so much of the best of what we have to
say, so long unwritten & in the power of chance — & I am
determined to make a better use of what time we have. Two
years, well employed, would enable us I think to get most of
it into a state fit for printing — if not in the best form for pop-
ular effect, yet in the state of concentrated thought — a sort
of mental pemican, which thinkers, when there are any after
us, may nourish themselves with & then dilute for other
people. The Logic & Pol. Ec. may perhaps keep their buoy-
ancy long enough to hold these other things above water till
there are people capable of taking up the thread of thought
& continuing it. I fancy I see one large or two small post-
humous volumes of Essays, with the Life at their head, &
my heart is set on having these in a state fit for publication
quelconque, if we live so long, by Christmass 1855; though
not then to be published if we are still alive to improve &
enlarge them. The first thing to be done & which I can do
immediately towards it is to finish the paper on Nature, &
this I mean to set about today, after finishing this letter —
being the first Sunday that I have not thought it best to
employ in I.H. work. That paper, I mean that part of it
rewritten, seems to me on reading it to contain a great deal
which we want said, said quite well enough for the volume
though not so well as we shall make it when we have time. I
hope to be able in two or three weeks to finish it equally well
& then to begin something else — but all the other subjects
in our list will be much more difficult for me even to begin
upon without you to prompt me. All this however is entirely
dependent on your health continuing to go on well, for these
are not things that can be done in a state of real anxiety. In
bodily ill health they might be.

In a later part of the same letter, written on the next day, Mill
returns to the subject:

It is a pleasant coincidence that I should receive her nice

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1854 ILLNESS

say about 'Nature' just after I have resumed it. I shall put
those three beautiful sentences about 'disorder' verbatim into
the essay. I wrote a large piece yesterday at intervals (reading
a bit of Sismondi whenever I was tired) & I am well pleased
with it. I don't think we should make these essays very long,
though the subjects are inexhaustible. We want a compact
argument first, & if we live to expand it & add a longer
dissertation, tant mieux: there is need of both.

The 'three beautiful sentences' about disorder are probably those
which occur on pp. 30 and 31 of the posthumous edition of the essay:

'Even the love of "order" which is thought to be a following of the
ways of Nature, is in fact a contradiction of them. All which people are
accustomed to deprecate as "disorder" and its consequences, is precisely
a counterpart of Nature's ways. Anarchy and the Reign of Terror are
overmatched in injustice, ruin, and death, by a hurricane and a
pestilence.'

J. S. M. to H. M., 7 February 1854: 1 finished the 'Nature'
on Sunday as I expected. I am quite puzzled what to attempt
next — I will just copy the list of subjects we made out in
the confused order in which we put them down. Differences
of character (nation, race, age, sex, temperament). Love.
Education of tastes. Religion de l'Avenir. Plato. Slander.
Foundation of Morals. Utility of religion. Socialism. Liberty.
Doctrine that causation is will. To these I have now added
from your letter, Family, & Conventional (?). It will be a
tolerable two years work to finish all that. Perhaps the first
of them is the one I could do most to by myself, at least of
those equally important.

Diary ', 8 February 1854: I would not, for any amount of
intellectual eminence, be the only one of my generation who
could see the truths which I thought of most importance to
the improvement of mankind. Nor would I, for anything
which life could give, be without a friend from whom I could
learn at least as much as I could teach. Even the merely
intellectual needs of my nature suffice to make me hope that

192

ILLNESS 1854

I may never outlive the companion who is the profoundest
and most far-sighted and clear-sighted thinker I have ever
known, as well as the most consumate in practical wisdom.
I do not wish that I were so much her equal as not to be her
pupil, but I would gladly be more capable than I am of
thoroughly appreciating and worthily reproducing her
admirable thoughts.

J. S. M. to H. M., 10 February 1854: You will be surprised
when I tell you that I went again to Clark24 this morning —
& I am afraid you will think I am fidgety about my ailments,
but the reverse is the case, for I never was so much the
opposite of nervous about my own health, & I believe what-
ever were to happen I should look it in the face quite calmly.
But my reason for going to day was one which I think would
have made you wish me to go — namely the decided & un-
mistakable appearance of blood in the expectoration. Clark
however on my describing it to him does not think it of any
importance, but thinks it is very likely not from the lungs,
& even if it does come from them, thinks it is from local &
very circumscribed congestion not from a generally con-
gested state. Very glad was I to hear of anything which
diminishes the importance of bleeding in a chest case. I knew
before that it is not at all a sure sign of consumption, as it
often accompanies bronchitis — which is the real technical
name of my cough, though it sounds too large & formidable
for it. I am very well convinced, since Clark thinks so, that
I am not in a consumption at present, however likely this
cough is to end in that — for it seems to resist all the usual
remedies. The favourable circumstance is that none of my
ailments ever seem to yield to remedies, but after teazing on
for an unconscionable time, go away or abate of themselves
— as perhaps this will if all goes well with my dearest one.
Indeed if I had belief in presentiments I should feel quite
assured on that point, for it appears to me so completely
natural that while my darling lives I should live to keep her
j.s.m. 193 o

1854 ILLNESS

company. I have not begun another Essay yet, but have read
through all that is written of the Life — I find it wants re-
vision, which I shall give it — but I do not well know what to
do with some of the passages which we marked for alteration
in the early part which we read together. They were mostly
passages in which I had written, you thought, too much of
the truth about my own defects. I certainly do not desire to
say more about them than integrity requires, but the difficult
matter is to decide how much that is. Of course one does not,
in writing a life, either one's own or another's, undertake to
tell everything — & it will be right to put something into this
which shall prevent any one from being able to suppose or to
pretend, that we undertake to keep nothing back. Still it va
sans dire that it ought to be on the whole a fair representa-
tion. Since things appear to be on looking at them now to be
said very crudely, which does not surprise me in the first
draft, in which the essential was to say everything somehow,
sauf to omit on general subjects, I find there is a great deal of
good matter written down in the Life which we have not
written anywhere else, & which will make it as valuable in
that respect (apart from its main object) as the best things we
have published. But of what particularly concerns our life
there is nothing yet written, except the descriptions of you,
& of your effect on me; which are at all events a permanent
memorial of what I know you to be, & of (so far as it can
be shown by generalities) of what I owe to you intellectually.
That, though it is the smallest part of what you are to me, is
the most important to commemorate, as people are compara-
tively willing to suppose all the rest. But we have to consider,
which we can only do together, how much of our story it is
advisable to tell, in order to make head against the repre-
sentations of enemies when we shall not be alive to add any-
thing to it. If it was not to be published for ioo years I
should say, tell all, simply & without reserve. As it is there
must be care taken not to put arms into the hands of the
enemy.

194

ILLNESS 1854

Mrs. Mill's reply to this is the only one of her letters from this
period which has been preserved.

H. M. to J. S. M.t Hyeres, 14 and 15 February 1854:™ I do
not think you at all fidgetty about your illness dear, and I
never should think you too much so. I never feel objections
to anything you do but when I think it tends to increase an
ailment. I think (you may be sure) that you were quite right
to go to C. about that bleeding, but I cannot help believing
that the practice of looking at the expectoration in the morn-
ing, is itself in great measure the cause of there being any
expectoration at all. I cannot but think that if you tried as
earnestly as I have done since Oct* to avoid any expectora-
tion that you could lose the habit altogether as I have done.
I am far more anxious about your health than about my own,
and the more because I do not think a continental life would
suit you. You would soon miss the stimulus and excitement
of the daily intercourse with other men to which you are
accustomed. However you must be the only judge on that
subject and you are not likely to have to decide it at present
at least. I hope you have not taken cold again — here after a
cold east wind last Friday and Sat. on Monday the bright
sky suddenly darkened and a snow storm more violent than
we have them in England covered the whole town and
country with deep snow in about an hour. Last night it froze
hard and they express great fear for the olives. To-day the
sun has melted the snow, tho' not in shady places, and it
continues very cold. I do not feel at all the worse for the cold,
but it is true it has not lasted long as yet. They say here that
March is a cold windy month. After the bad days I had last
week, I have been something better again, as I see I always
am after an unusually bad week.

About the Essays dear, would not religion, the Utility of
Religion,26 be one of the subjects you would have most to
say on — there is to account for the existence nearly universal
of some religion (superstition) by the instincts of fear, hope
and mystery etc., and throwing over all doctrines and

195

1854 ILLNESS

theories, called religion, and devices for power, to show how
religion and poetry fill the same want, the craving after
higher objects, the consolation of suffering, the hope of
heaven for the selfish, love of God for the tender and grateful
— how all this must be superseded by morality deriving its
power from sympathies and benevolence and its reward from
the approbation of those we respect.

There, what a long winded sentence, which you could say
ten times as well in words half the length. I feel sure dear
that the Life is not half written and that half that is written
will not do. Should there not be a summary of our relation-
ship from its commencement in 1830 — I mean given in a
dozen lines — so as to preclude other and different versions of
our lives at Kis11 (?) and Waln — our summer excursions, etc.
This ought to be done in its genuine truth and simplicity —
strong affection, intimacy of friendship, and no impropriety.
It seems to me an edifying picture for those poor wretches
who cannot conceive friendship but in sex — nor believe that
expediency and the consideration for feelings of others can
conquer sensuality. But of course this is not my reason for
wishing it done. It is that every ground should be occupied
by ourselves on our own subject.

I thought so exactly as you did about that trash in the
Ex[aminer] about the Russell letters27 — she was an amiable
woman as there are, only a good deal spoilt, hardened by
puritanism, who was excessively in love with her husband
(though she did not admire him much).

Will you observe dear before paying Sharpers if the Bill
delid you have is dated? He never has sent a bill, but I sup-
pose if the Bill Delid is dated Christmas 1853 that is suffi-
cient. Will you tell Haji on his birthday (2 1) that I asked you
to wish him many happy returns of it for me. The garden
will soon want crops put in but I will write about it next
time. I am very glad Kate continues satisfied and well
conducted.

.Adieu with all love to my Kindest and dearest.

196

ILLNESS 1854

Before he received this letter Mill wrote once more about the
Autobiography in connexion with an intended meeting at Paris.

J. S. M. to H. M.y 13 February 1854: I have not forgotten
that I am to bring the biography with me. It is mentioned
in the codicil, placed at your absolute disposal to publish or
not. But if we are not to be together this summer it is doubly
important to have as much of the life written as can be
written before we meet — therefore will you my own love in
one of your sweetest letters give me your general notion of
what we should say or imply concerning our private con-
cerns. As it is it shows confidential friendship & strong
attachment ending in marriage when you were free & ignores
there having ever been any scandalous suspicions about us.

Eight days later Mrs. Mill's letter on the subject had at last reached
him.

J. S. M. to H. M.y 20 February 1854: Your program of an
essay on religion is beautiful, but it requires you to fill it up
— I can try but a few paragraphs will bring me to the end of
all I have got to say on the subject. What would be the use
of my outliving you ! I could write nothing worth keeping
alive for except with your prompting. As to the Life — which
I have been revising & correcting — the greater part, in
bulk, of what is written consists in the history of my mind up
to the time when your influence over it began — & I do not
think there can be much objectionable in that part, even
including as it does, sketches of the character of most of the
people I was intimate with — if I could be said to be so with
anyone. I quite agree in the sort of resume of our relationship
which you suggest — but if it is to be only as you say a dozen
lines, or even three or four dozen, could you not my own
love write it out your darling self & send it in one of your
precious letters. It is one of the many things on which the
fond would be much better laid by you & we can add to it
afterwards if we see occasion. I sent the Examiner today I
am sorry & ashamed of the spots of grease on it. The chapter

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1854 ILLNESS

of the P[olitical] E[conomy] I shall send by the post which
takes this letter ... I will give your 'happy returns' to Haji
tomorrow. The last Sunday but one I took occasion in talk-
ing with him to say that you were the profoundest thinker &
most consumate reasoner I had ever known — he made no
remark to the point but ejaculated a strong wish that you
were back here.

Two of the entries made by Mill in his 'little book' at about this
time may find a place here.

Diary, 16 February, 1854: Niebuhr said that he wrote only
for Savigny; so I write only for her when I do not write
entirely from her. But in my case, as in his, what is written
for only one reader, that one being the most competent
intellect, is likeliest to be of use to the many, readers or not,
whose benefit is the object of the writing, though not the
principal incentive to it.

Diary, 20 February, 1854: Whenever I look back at any
of my own writing of two or three years previous, they seem
to me like the writing of some stranger whom I have seen
and known long ago. I wish that my acquisition of power to
do better had kept pace with the continual elevation of my
standing point and change of my bearings towards all the
great subjects of thought. But the explanation is that I owe
the enlargement of my ideas and feelings to her influence,
and that she could not in the same degree give me powers of
execution.

In the letters of these weeks various problems arising from the prob-
able necessity of Mill's retirement from India House and of possibly
having to live permanently on the Continent come up repeatedly. He
hoped, if his health should make this necessary, to be able to retire on
two-thirds of his salary, but was on the whole inclined to try to hold
on for another year or so, with the help of six month's leave during the
following winter on a medical certificate which he thought ought to be
readily granted, considering that he had just finished all the arrears and
thus 'done in two months the work of 5^'.28 In the same connexion he

198

ILLNESS 1854

explains to his wife about their income from investments that 'we are
not yet at the £500 which you mention but we are past £400'. 29 The
same thought had evidently been in his mind when a little earlier he
had expressed much pleasure about the continued favourable receipts
from his books.

J. S. M. to H. M., 2g January 1854: The Logic has sold
260 copies in 1853 — in 1852 it sold only 206. This steady
sale must proceed I think from a regular annual demand
from colleges & other places of education. What is strange
is that the Pol. Ec. Essays sell from 20 to 50 copies each
year and bring in three or four pounds annually. This is
encouraging, since if that sells, I think anything we put our
name to would sell. P[arker] brought a cheque for £102.2.5
which with the £250, & £25 which Lewis has sent for the
Grote, is pretty well to have come in one year from writings
of which money was not at all the object.

But doubts whether they will live to complete any of their plans
creep in more and more frequently as the weeks pass on.

J. S. M. to H. M., 24 February 1854: Altogether I hope the
best for both of us, & see nothing in the state of either to
discourage the hope. I hope we shall live to write together
'all we wish to leave written' to most of which your living is
quite as essential than mine, for even if the wreck I should
be could work on with undiminished faculties, my faculties
at the best are not adequate to the highest subjects & have
already done almost the best they are adequate to. Do not
think darling that I should ever make this an excuse to
myself for not doing my very best — if I survived you, &
anything we much care about was not already fixed in writing
you might depend on my attempting all of it & doing my
very best to make it such as you would wish, for my only rule
of life then would be what I thought you would wish as it
now is what you tell me you wish. But I am not Jit to write on
anything but the outskirts of the great questions of feeling
& life without you to prompt me as well as to keep me right.

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1854 ILLNESS

So we must do what we can while we are alive — the Life
being the first thing — which independent of the personal
matters which it will set right when we have made it what
we intend, is even now an unreserved proclamation of our
opinions on religion, nature, & much else.

Apart from the suggested essay on religion on which Mill started
work early in March, the main subjects discussed in the letters of the
next few weeks are the proposed plans for parliamentary reform, the
reconstruction of the Civil Service, and the revisions of a chapter of the
Political Economy.

J. S. M. to H. M., 3 March 1854: The Civil Service
examination plan I am afraid is too good to pass. The report
proposing it, by Trevelyan & Northcote (written no doubt
by Trevelyan) has been printed in the Chronicle — it is as
direct, uncompromising & to the point, without reservation,
as if we had written it. But even the Chronicle attacks the
plan. The grand complaint is that it will bring low people
into the offices! as, of course, gentlemen's sons cannot be
expected to be as clever as low people. It is ominous too that
the Times has said nothing on the subject lately. I should
like to know who wrote the articles in the Times in support
of the plan — possibly Trevelyan himself. It was somebody
who saw his way to the moral & social ultimate effects of
such a change. How truly you judge people — how true is
what you always say that this ministry are before the public.

J. S. M. to H. M., 9 March 1854: The other note is from
Trevelyan30 and is an appeal that I ought to respond to, but
it will be difficult, & without you impossible, to write the
opinion he asks for, so as to be fit to print. But he ought to
be helped, for the scheme is the greatest thing yet proposed
in the way of real reform & his report is as I said before,
almost as if we had written it. I wish it were possible to delay
even answering his note till I could send a draft to you &
receive it back but I fear that would not do.

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ILLNESS 1854

J. S. M. to H. M.j 14 March 1854: I need hardly say how
heartily I feel all you say about the civil service plan & the
contempt I feel for the little feeling shewn for it, not to speak
of actual hostility. I give the ministers infinite credit for it,
that is if they really adopt the whole plan, for as their bill is
not yet brought in (it is not as you seem to think, part of the
Reform Bill) we do not yet know how far they will really go ;
but the least they can do consistently with their speeches,
will be such a sacrifice of power of jobbing as hardly a politi-
cian who ever lived, ever yet made to the sense of right,
without any public demand — it stamps them as quite re-
markable men for their class & country. Of course all the
jobbers are hard against them, especially newspaper editors
who all now look out for places. Yet I so share your misgiv-
ing that they cannot know how great a thing they are doing,
that I am really afraid to say all I feel about it till they are
fully committed, lest it should do more harm than good.
This was my answer to Trevelyan. 'I have not waited till
now to make myself acquainted with the Report which you
have done me the favour of sending to me, & to hail (?)
the plan of throwing open the civil service to competition
as one of the greatest improvements in public affairs ever
proposed by a government. If the examination be so con-
trived as to be a real test of mental superiority, it is difficult
to set limits to the effect which will be produced in raising
the character not only of the public service but of Society
itself. I shall be most happy to express this opinion in any
way in which you think it can be of the smallest use towards
helping forward so noble a scheme, but as the successful
working of the plan will depend principally on details into
which very properly your Report does not enter, I should be
unable without some time for consideration, to write any-
thing which could have a chance of being of any service in
the way of suggestion.

'I am sorry to say you are mistaken in supposing that any-
thing bearing the remotest resemblance to what you propose,

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1854 ILLNESS

exists at the I.H. It will exist in the India Civil Service by the
Act of last year.'

Trevelyan's answer: 'You have done us a great service by
the expression of your decided approbation of our plan for
the reform of the English Civil Establishments; & as it is
well known that you do not form your opinions lightly, I do
not wish to trouble you to enter upon details of the subject
at present. If you can suggest any improvement in the more
advanced stages, we shall hope to hear from you again.' This
looks as if he desired support more than criticism, but it is
useful as it opens a channel by which, without obstrusive-
ness, we may write anything we like in the way of comment
on the bill hereafter & be sure of its being read by the
government. They have already quoted me in favour of the
plan.

Fortunately it was not until early in May, some time after Mrs.
Mill's return, that Trevelyan asked for the substitution of another
enlarged letter for the one written at first, and it was no doubt with
her assistance that the Paper on the Reorganization of the Civil Service,
dated 22 May, was written.31

The concern with the revision of the chapter on the Futurity of the
Labouring Classes was caused by an application of F. J. Furnival,
'one of the Kingsley set',32 to reprint it: 'I did not expect the Xtian
Socialists would wish to circulate the chapter as it is in the 3d edit.
since it stands up for Competition against their one eyed attacks &
denounciations of it."33 Mrs. Mill approved of the plan and Mill under-
took not only to revise the chapter but also to translate all the French
passages in it. Sheets of the chapter went to Mrs. Mill for her comment.

J. S. M. to H. M.j 6 March 1854: I quite agree with you
about the inexpediency of adding anything like practical
advice, or anything at all which alters the character of the
chapter. The working men ought to see that it was not
written for them — any attempt to mingle the two characters
would be sure to be a failure & is not the way in which we
should do the thing even if we had plenty of time & were
together. — This morning has come from Chapman a pro-

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ILLNESS 1854

posal for reprinting the article Enfranchisement of Women
or as he vulgarly calls it the article on Woman. How very
vulgar all his notes are. I am glad however that it is your
permission he asks. I hope the 'lady friend' is not H. Mar-
tineau. Mrs. Gaskell perhaps? You will tell me what to say.

When Mrs. Mill's comments arrived Mill wrote 'I think I agree in
all your remarks & have adopted them almost all' and transcribed in the
letter all the additions he had made to the chapter.34 A 'saving clause'
on piece work which Mrs. Mill suggests was promptly inserted before
the chapter was sent to Furnival.35

Early in March Mill got seriously alarmed by the progressive
deterioration of his health, especially when a new symptom, night
perspiration, appeared. But his doctor, Sir James Clark, at first still
reassured him and Mill went away with the impression that his lungs
were not even threatened.

J. S. M. to H. M., 11 March 1854: This being one of the
great indications of consumption (though also of other ail-
ments) it was well to find out what it meant. Clark thought it
was cheifly from the sudden change of weather & said that
almost everybody is complaining of night perspiration, the
queen among others. Whatever he may say, it is clear to me
that no weather could produce any such effects on me if
there were not a strong predisposition to it.

Only a few days later the doctor had however to admit 'that there
is organic disease in the lungs & and that he had known this all along'.36
Mill at first tried to keep from his wife this news, which to him
seemed a fairly certain sentence of death, till he could tell it to her by
word of mouth. His state of mind during the next few weeks is best
shown by some of the entries in the 'little book'.

Diary, 16 March 1854: It is part of the irony of life, and a
part which never becomes the less affecting because it is so
trite, that the fields, hills, and trees, the houses, really the
very rooms and furniture, will look exactly the same the day
after we or those we most love have died.

203

1854 ILLNESS

ij March: When we see and feel that human beings can
take the deepest interest in what will befall their country or
mankind long after they are dead, and in what they can
themselves do while they are alive to influence that distant
prospect which they are never destined to behold, we cannot
doubt that if this and similar feelings were cultivated in the
the same manner and degree as religion they would become
a religion.

25 March: The only change I find in myself from a near
view of probable death is that it makes me instinctively con-
servative. It makes me feel, not as I am accustomed — oh, for
something better! — but oh, that we could be going on as we
were before. Oh, that those I love could be spared the shock
of a great change! And this feeling goes with me into politics
and all other human affairs, when my reason does not studi-
ously contend against and repress it.

31 March: Apart from bodily pain, and the grief for the
grief of those who love us, the most disagreeable thing about
dying is the intolerable ennui of it. There ought to be no
slow deaths.

3 April: The effect of the bright and sunny aspects of
Nature in soothing and giving cheerfullness is never more
remarkable than in declining health. I look upon it as a piece
of excellent good fortune to have the whole summer before
one to die in.

4 April: Perhaps even the happiest of mankind would not,
if it were offered, accept the privilege of being immortal.
What he would ask in lieu of it is not to die until he chose.

12 April: In quitting forever any place where one has
dwelt as in a home, all the incidents and circumstances, even
those which were worse than indifferent to us, appear like old
friends that one is reluctant to lose. So it is in taking leave of
life: even the tiresome and vexatious parts of it look pleasant

204

ILLNESS 1854

and friendly, and one feels how agreeable it would be to
remain among them.

As the meeting with Mrs. Mill was delayed longer than expected
and she got alarmed by the partial reports, Mill has at last to break
the news to her, telling her at the same time that he had placed himself
in the hands of another doctor, Ramadge,37 whose book on a new
treatment of consumption had inspired him with confidence, and that
he was already slightly better.38 Two days later he has already his wife's
reply from Paris.

J. S. M. to H. M.> 10 April 1854: You will soon, darling,
I know, feel calm again, for what is there that can happen to
us in such a world as this that is worth being disturbed about
when one is prepared for it? except intense physical pain,
but that there is no fear of in this case. I am sometimes sur-
prised at my own perfect tranquility when I consider how
much reason I have to wish to live — but I am in my best
spirits, & what I wrote even in the week after Clark's an-
nouncement before I had seen Ramadge, is written with as
much spirit & I had as much pleasure in writing it as any-
thing I ever wrote.

Indeed only a few days before he had written to her :

I want my angel to tell me what should be the next essay
written. I have done all I can for the subject she last gave

me.5

About the same time news had reached Mill that his mother was
dangerously ill. He had apparently not seen her since his return, but
early exchanged some notes with her and now he learnt that she was
getting worse.

J. S. M. to H. M., 3 April 1854: My poor mother I am
afraid is not in a good way— as to health I mean. In her
usual letter about receiving her pension she said 'I have been
a sufferer for nearly three months — I have only been out of
doors twice' &c. 'I have suffered and am still suffering great
pain. I supposed the pain in my back was rheumatism, but
it is not — it proceeds from the stomach, from which I suffer

205

1854 ILLNESS

intense pain as well as from the back. Mr. Quain has been
attending me during the time, and he and Sir Jas Clark have
had a consultation and I am taking what they prescribe —
I can do no more.' And again in answer to my answer 'I am
just the same, but it is not rheumatism that I am suffering
from, but my liver. I thought it was odd that my stomach
should be so much affected from rheumatism. Sir J. Clark is
coming here at the end of the week to have another con-
sultation. I cannot write much as I am so very weak.'40 This
looks very ill I fear — very like some organic disease. Mrs.
King she says is a little better & is probably coming to
England.41 I told her what you said a propos of Mrs. King's
illness. She wrote 'I hope Mrs. Mill is still going on well.'

In the last letter to his wife before her return the news about his
mother is still more grave.

J. S. M. to H. M.> ii April 1854: 1 am sorry to say darling
I had two notes from Clara & Mary42 both saying that my
mother is very ill — one says that Clark & the other medical
man Quain call her disease enlargement of the liver, the other
tumour in the liver & they think very seriously of it though
not expecting immediate danger. I need not send the notes
as you will see them so soon.

It had been intended that Mill should meet his wife in Paris where
she had arrived about the first of April and was stopping for some days,
awaiting better weather for the crossing and in order to give her
daughter an opportunity to see the semaine sainte. At first it seemed
uncertain whether Mrs. Mill would be strong enough to continue the
journey to England, but in the end it proved that it was Mill who was
unable to come to Paris to meet her, because he had, in addition to his
illness, developed a bad carbuncle, and about the middle of April the
two ladies joined him at Blackheath Park.

During the next six weeks Mill's health continued to get worse so
that, as he wrote a little later,43 'the great and rapid wasting of flesh'
made him fear that he would soon be 'incapable of any bodily exertion
whatever'. His doctors were urging him to go away but he delayed
until the beginning of June when at last, with little hope of recovery,

206

ILLNESS 1854

he set out for a tour of Brittany. But before he left it was necessary to
say good-bye to his mother, who was clearly dying. Warned of the
approaching end in a very formal letter of his sister Harriet,44 he went
to see his mother, and a few days later, wrote to her once more. The
letter was evidently intended to convey some information to his sisters
rather than for his mother, who, as he must have known, was no longer
in a state to read it.

J. S. M. to Mrs. James Mill.A5 Blackheath Park, June 9,
. 1854/My dear Mother — I hope that you are feeling better
than when I saw you last week & that you continue free from
pain. I write to say that I am going immediately to the Con-
tinent by the urgent recommendation of Clark who has been
pressing me to do so for some time past & though I expect
to return in a few weeks it will probably be to leave again
soon after. I wish again to remind you in case it has not
already been done how desirable it is that someone who is
fixed in England should be named executor to your will,
either instead of me, which I shd prefer, or as well as myself.

My wife sends her kindest wishes & regrets that her weak
health makes it difficult for her to come to see you as she
would otherwise have done. Ever my dear mother

affectionately yours

J. S. M.

Mrs. James Mill died six days later, on 1 5 June. The news, con-
veyed in a letter by his brother-in-law Charles Colman, however, did
not reach Mill until the 26th in Brittany. He had left on the day he
had written to his mother and remained away for a little over six weeks.
Again all but one of the sixteen letters he wrote to his wife during this
tour have been preserved46 and allow us to follow his daily moods and
movements. After spending three days at St. Helier on the island of
Jersey, he crossed to St. Malo, where he was held up by rain for a day
and started writing an essay on Justice,47 the plan of which had formed
itself in his mind on the boat. But, as soon as the weather improved,
he set out on his tour around the coast of Brittany, spending all day in
the open, travelling only short distances by various means of convey-
ance but walking an astounding and, as his strength increased, rapidly
increasing amount. All the time he was looking at the various towns

207

1854 ILLNESS

with an eye to their suitability as places for permanent residence and
reporting to his wife on the prices of food and similar items. At Mor-
laix he found a companion for a few excursions who, like himself,
was seeking a cure for consumption.

J. S. M. to H. M., Brest, 24 June 1854: 1 went there [from
Morlaix to the central country of Brittany] as I said I was
going to, with an Englishman who it seems is a barrister &
is named Pope. He turned out a pleasant person to meet, as,
though he does not seem to me to have any talent, he is
better informed than common Englishmen — knows a good
deal of French history for example, especially that of the
Revolution — & seems either to have already got to or to be
quite ready to receive, all our opinions. I tried him on
religion, where I found him quite what we think right — on
politics, on which he was somewhat more than a radical —
on the equality of women which he seemed not to have quite
dared to think of himself but seemed to adopt it at once —
& to be ready for all reasonable socialism — he boggled a
little at limiting the power of bequest which I was glad of
as it shewed that the other agreements were not mere follow-
ing a lead taken. He was therefore worth talking to & I
think he will have taken away a good many ideas from me.
. . . From that [the French newspapers] I saw that there had
been a debate on the ballot & that Palmerston had made the
speech against it but that was all. I reckon on leaving our
opinion on that question to form part of the volume of essays,
but I am more anxious to get on with other things first, since
what is already written (when detached from the political
pamphlet that was to have been48) will in the case of the
worst suffice, being the essentials of what we have to say,
& perhaps might serve to float the volume as the opinion on
the ballot would be liked by the powerful classes, and being
from a radical would be sure to be quoted by their writers,
while they would detest most of the other opinions.

Six days later his wife's reply to the last passage makes him return
to the subject.

208

ILLNESS 1854

J. S. M. to H. M., Lorient, 30 June 1854 •' I wish I had seen
a full report of Palmerston's speech — what was given of it
in the Spectator did not at all account for your high opinion
of it, containing only the commonplaces I have been familiar
with all my life — while the speeches for the ballot were
below even the commonplaces. The ballot has sunk to far
inferior men, the Brights etc. When it was in my father's
hands or even Grote's such trash was not spoken as that the
suffrage is a right &c. &c. But Palmerston's saying that a
person who will not sacrifice something to his opinion is not
fit to have a vote seems to me to involve the same fallacy. It is
not for his own sake that one wishes him to have a vote. It is
we who suffer because those who would vote with us are
afraid to do so. As for the suffrage being a trust it has always
been so said by the Whig & Tory opponents of the ballot
& used to be agreed in by its radical supporters. I have not
seen a single new argument respecting the ballot for many
years except one or two of yours. I do not feel in the way
you do the desirableness of writing an article for the Edin-
burgh] on it. There will be plenty of people to say all that is
to be said against the ballot — all it wants from us is the
authority of an ancient radical & that it will have by what is
already written & fit to be published as it is : but I now feel
so strongly the necessity of giving the little time we are
sure of to writing things which nobody could write but
ourselves, that I do not like turning aside to anything else.
I do not find the essay on Justice goes on well. I wrote a good
long piece of it at Quimper, but it is too metaphysical, & not
what is most wanted — but I must finish it now in that vein
& then strike into another.

In the interval between these two letters the news of his mother's
death had reached him.

J. S. M. to H. M., Quimper, 26 June 18 $4: It is a comfort
that my poor mother suffered no pain — & since it was to be,
I am glad that I was not in England when it happened, since

j.s.m. 209 p

1854 ILLNESS

what I must have done & gone through would have been
very painful & wearing & would have done no good to
any one. It is on every account fortunate that another
executor has been appointed. There is a matter connected
with the subject which I several times intended speaking to
you about, but each time I forgot. Unless my memory
deceives me, the property my mother inherited from her
mother was not left to her out & out, but was settled
equally on her children. If so, a seventh part of it, being
something between £4.00 & £500, will come to me, & I do
not think we ought to take it — what do you think? Consider-
ing how they have behaved, it is a matter of pride more than
of anything else — but I have a very strong feeling about it.

J. S. M. to H. M., Nantes, 4 July 1854: About the matter
of my mother's inheritance, of course as your feeling is so
directly contrary, mine is wrong, & I give it up entirely,
but it was not the vanity of 'acting on the supposition of
being a man of fortune' — it was something totally different
— it was wishing that they should not be able to say that I
had taken anything from their resources. However that is
ended, & I need say no more about it.

From Nantes Mill went for a fortnight to the Vendee, again in the
company of his new acquaintance, Mr. Pope, and from the southern-
most point of his journey he reports continued improvement of his
health.

J. S. M. to H. M.3 Rochefort, 16 July 1854: You may know
by my taking it so leisurely that the journey continues to do
me good; indeed it seems to do me more & more — I was
weighed at La Rochelle & had gained two pounds more,
making six pounds since St. Malo — it shews how much
weight I must have lost before, these six pounds make not
the smallest perceptible difference to the eye — I have gained
still more in strength; yesterday at Rochelle I was out from
eight in the morning till nine at night literally with only the

210

ILLNESS 1854

exceptions of breakfast & dinner — & walking all the time,
except an occasional sitting on a bank.

On his return to Nantes he found another letter from his brother-
in-law, enclosing a letter from his mother found after her death, and
asking for instructions concerning the disposal of her furniture, which
she had described as belonging to Mill. He copied both letters out in
full for his wife and commented:

J. S. M. to H. M.> Nantes, ig July 1854: Of course we can
only say that the furniture was my mother's & must be dealt
with as such — but I cannot write the note without consulta-
tion so unless you think it can wait for my return (as I shall
be home now in little more than a week) perhaps darling
you will write to Rouen what you think should be said & in
what manner, both about that & the plate.

The instructions asked for promptly reached Mill and in his last
letter (Rouen, 24 July) he replies that he will write 'the letter to
Colman exactly according to your pencil which seems to me perfectly
right' and the following letter is accordingly dispatched :

J. S. M. to Charles Colman, Rouen, 24 July 1854:^ Dear
Colman, Owing to a change in my route, I did not get to
Nantes till later than I originally intended. With regard to
my mother's furniture, I always considered it hers, & have
often told her so. I think it or its proceeds should be equally
distributed among all her daughters. The plate which my
mother had also to be distributed equally in the same manner
I am,

fs faithfully,

J. S. Mill

211

Chapter Ten

ITALY AND SICILY

1854-1855

MILL',
obtai
the s

's expectation that he would have no difficulty in
ining a medical certificate saying that he ought to go to
south for six months during the winter of 1854-5
proved only too true. About the middle of November his doctor per-
emptorily ordered him away for eight months. But it was not to be the
joint holiday to which he and his wife had been looking forward.
Apparently Mrs. Mill was not strong enough for a long journey1 and
after taking her to Torquay he left Blackheath Park on 8 December
for an extensive tour of France, Italy and Greece. During his absence
he wrote to her almost daily, though he could often post his letters only
once a week and some of them in consequence run to very great
length. All of the 49 letters written during the journey have been pre-
served2 and if printed in full would make a fairly thick volume. For
their detailed description of the places visited these letters, particularly
those from Sicily and Greece, might deserve some day to be printed in
full. In the course of the present narrative we must, however, confine
ourselves to a few extracts which throw further light on Mill's intel-
lectual and emotional state.

The journey began inauspiciously. A miserable crossing of the
channel, during which Mill, always a sufferer from sea-sickness, was
really ill, brought him to Boulogne hardly able 'to totter up the steps',
and further upsetting his digestion, from which he suffered throughout
the journey as much if not more than from the symptoms of his
pulmonary disease. After a night in Paris he commenced his round-

212

ITALY AND SICILY 1854

about journey to Marseilles via Bordeaux and the valley of the Garonne
across the whole South of France.

Orleans, 9 December 1854 • Yesterday in the railway I was
afraid that I was getting into that half mad state which
always makes me say that imprisonment would kill me — &
which makes me conscious that if I let myself dwell on the
idea I could get into the state of being unable to bear the
impossibility of flying to the moon — it is a part of human
nature I never saw described but have long known by experi-
ence— this time the occasion of it was, not being able to get
to you — when I reflected that for more than six months I
was to be where I could not possibly go to you in less than
many days, I felt as if I must instantly turn back & return to
you. It will require a good deal of management of myself to
keep this sensation out of my nerves.

On the way to Bordeaux he stopped at Libourne, and after two days
at Bordeaux he started out by diligence in slow stages up the valley of
the Garonne to Toulouse, Carcassone, Narbonne and Beziers to
Montpelier. Here he stopped for five days, reviving memories of the
time, thirty-four years earlier, when, as a boy of fourteen, he had spent
there with Sir Samuel Bentham and his family 'the six happiest months
of his youth'.3 He continued via Nimes to Avignon where he remained
for the two Christmas holidays, and where for the first time, and the
only time for a long while, he felt perfectly well — as it was indeed the
climate of Avignon which years later, after the sad event of his wife
dying there led him to choose it as his permanent home, should at last
restore to him the health which he had been vainly seeking for so long.
After another miserable sea journey from Marseilles to Genoa he felt
for the first time really in a foreign country.

Genoa, 30 December 1854: I seem much further from my
dear one than in France — any place in France if it be ever
so far off" seems so much a home to us. I do not get on well
with the Italians here not only from the badness of my
Italian but of theirs, for it is a horrible patois almost as
unltalian as the Venetian but without its softness. Adieu
darling — love me always — a thousand dearest loves.

213

1855 ITALY AND SICILY

In another letter, begun on the same evening but continued on the
following two days, he commenced his more detailed descriptions of
the country mixed with more general reflections. He started on his
further journey in a voiture taken together with a number of Italians
to Sestri and Spezia, and according to his usual habit walked large parts
of the way.

Sestri) 31 December 1854: There is great complaint of the
distress of the people here — my fellow traveller said every-
thing had failed except olives — not only the vines but all the
grain & that the proprietaires are dying of hunger. A propos
I have been reading of a great & rapidly extending disease
among silkworms, propagated by the eggs — it seems as if
there was a conspiracy among the powers of nature to thwart
human industry — if it once reaches the real necessaries of
life the human race may starve. The potato disease was a
specimen & that was but one root: if it should reach corn?
I think that should be a signal for the universal & simul-
taneous suicide of the whole human race, suggested by
Novalis. What a number of sensible things are not done, faut
de s'entendre! In the meantime let us make what we can of
what human life we have got, which I am hardly doing by
being away from you. I think I should feel the whole thing
worthier if I were writing something — but I cannot make
up my mind what to write. Nothing that is not large will
meet the circumstances.

Spezia, 1 January 1855: Every possible good that the new
year can possibly bring to the only person living who is
worthy to live, and may she have the happiest & maniest
new years that the inexorable powers allow to any of us poor
living creatures.

In Spezia he stopped for a day and, as everywhere, was inquiring
about the suitability of the place as a permanent domicile; but better
news from his wife, with whom the climate of Torquay seemed to
agree at the time, made him again more doubtful whether he wanted
to live abroad.

214

ITALY AND SICILY 1855

Spezia, 2 January; The nuisance of England is the Eng-
lish: on every other account I would rather live in England
passing a winter now & then abroad than live altogether
anywhere else. The effect of the beauty here on me, great as
it is, makes me like the beauty of English country more than
I ever did before — there is such a profusion of beauty of
detail in English country when it is beautiful & such a
deficiency of it here & on the Continent generally & I am
convinced that a week's summer tour about Dartmoor would
give me as much pleasure as a week about Spezia.

In Pisa he stopped for six days, because his condition for a while got
seriously worse, but on the 9th he proceeded by train to Sienna and
thence started on the following day a long journey by diligence to
Rome, where he at last arrived on the 14th. After a short note added to
the letter written during the journey and posted on arrival follows a
first long letter.

Rome, is January: I have read up the Times at the old
place, Monaldini's — there is another place of the same kind
now, Piali's, also in the Piazza di Spagna, which seems more
frequented, especially by English. The only thing I found
noticeable was the Queen's letter4 — was there ever such a
chef d' ceuvre of feebleness — O those grandes dames how all
vestige of the very conception of strength or spirit has gone
out of them. Every word was evidently her own — the great
baby! & it is not only the weakness but the decousir, the
incoherence of the phrases — sentences they are not. No
wonder such people are awed by the Times, which by the side
of them looks like rude strength. — Whom should I find
here, in the same inn, but Lucas5 — not a bad rencontre to
make at Rome. I left my card for him & shall no doubt see
him tomorrow. Au reste, nobody else here whom I know,
judging from the lists at the libraries. Hayward6 appears to
have been here in the autumn but no doubt has left. There is
a Lady Duff Gordon but I suppose & hope it is the mother
of the baronet.7 And there are a few people whom I have just

215

1855 ITALY AND SICILY

seen — Lady Langdale — some of the Lyalls — & others whom
I forgot. If Naples is like Rome I have no chance of a com-
panion. I have found the address of Dr. Deakin & shall call
on him tomorrow. I have been considerably better today but
think it is best to consult somebody about my stomach & my
strength — I am anxious to get back the last, since at present
long walks which have done me so much good hitherto, are
impossible. I have not ventured to take quinine while my
stomach was disordered, which it is still, a little. I see a great
many English priests all about, as well as many other Eng-
lish. On Thursday I believe there will be fine music at St.
Peter's which I will certainly hear. — There is so much to do
& to see here, that it has taken off my nascent velleity of
writing. On my way here cogitating thereon I came back to
an idea we have talked about, & thought that the best thing
to write & publish at present would be a volume on Liberty.8
So many things might be brought into it & nothing seems
more to be needed — it is a growing need too, for opinion
tends to encroach more & more on liberty, & almost all the
projects of social reformers of these days are really liberticide
— Comte's particularly so. I wish I had brought with me
here the paper on Liberty that I wrote for our volume of
Essays — perhaps my dearest will kindly read it through &
tell me whether it will do as the foundation of one part of the
volume in question. If she thinks so I will try to write &
publish it in 1 856 if my health permits as I hope it will.

Most of his letters from Rome are filled with accounts of his sight-
seeing. He seems at first mainly to have been attracted by the sculptures.

Rome, 16 January: I went through the [Vatican] Museum,
catalogue in hand, to-day, & knowing the whole, shall
return often to see those I most like. It gave me quite as
much & more pleasure than I expected. The celebrated
Meleager I do not care a rush for — I should never have
guessed it to be ancient. The Apollo is fine but there is a
Mercury (formerly mistaken for an Antinous) which seems

216

ITALY AND SICILY 1855

to me finer & a gigantic sitting Jupiter who is magnificent.
The Ariadne if such she be is most beautiful & so are many-
others. The Laocoon I can see deserves its reputation but it
is not the sort of thing I care about. I see with very great
interest the really authentic statues & busts of Roman
emperors & eminent Greeks — although as you know, not
only no physiognomist but totally incapable of becoming
one. But I find the pleasure which pictures & statues give
me, increase with every experience, & I am acquiring strong
preferences & discriminations which with me I think is a
sign of progress.

Rome, 22 January: The picture gallery at the Capitol is
about equal to the Borghese. I liked best a Fra Bartolomeo
& some Venetian portraits. The ancient sculptures are fully
equal, for their number, to those at the Vatican; the dying
Gladiator perhaps superior to any. There are some reliefs of
scenes in which Marcus Aurelius is introduced which appear
to me wonderful & are very delightful to me from my
extreme admiration of the man. The place is full too of
curiosities : the brazen she wolf of Romulus which was struck
by lightning at the time of Julius Caesar's death, the frag-
ments of a most curious plan of old Rome, unfortunately dug
up in many small pieces: the original Fasti Consulares also
fragmentary but in large fragments, going back to some of
the consulships preceeding the Decemvirate. All these are
believed genuine by Niebuhr & the most critical judges who
have fully examined the evidence. These are much more
interesting to me than the remains of Roman buildings
which with two or three exceptions are very ugly & all very
much alike. Lucas says his business at Rome is coming to
a crisis : he came to prevail on the Pope to take off the inter-
dict lately laid on priests against interfering in politics: if he
cannot proceed in this, he & others mean to give up politics
for the present. Cullen, the Archbishop, is the head of the
party opposed to him & he 8c Cullen are to meet this week

217

1855 ITALY AND SICILY

by desire of the Pope, to try if they cannot arrange matters
amicably: if not, the Pope will have to decide between them.
I conjecture that the interdict, so absurd in a Catholic point
of view, was procured by Louis Napoleon to prevent the
English government from being embarrassed by Ireland
during this war. Lucas thinks it is not this, but Cullen's
Whiggish inclinations, & it is curious that while Cullen was
supported in getting the Archbishopric on the one hand by
MacHale on the other if Lucas says true Lord Clarendon
was writing the strongest letters in his support on the ground
of his being a perfectly safe man: three people known to
Lucas have he says seen a letter from Ld Clarendon to the
brother of More O'Ferrall to that effect. This shews skilful
duplicity in Cullen at all events.

Rome, 24 January: Lucas has just been here. He has had
his meeting with Cullen today, finds him very hostile — no
chance of an amicable arrangement — means to stay here &
fight it out — but can do nothing just at present, therefore
thinks he shall be able to go to Naples — & if so Mr. Kyan9
proposes to go too. So we shall be a party of three. I should
have liked Lucas better without Kyan but he is not disagree-
able nor much in the way. We shall see. Meanwhile they are
going with me to some more pictures tomorrow.

Mill's health, which had been very bad during the early part of his
stay in Rome — he had lost fifteen pounds since the temporary high at
Avignon, was improving sufficiently towards the end of January for
him to think of further travel and finally he agreed to start for Naples
on the 29th. During the last three days he made another round of
galleries and churches.

Rome, 26 January: No letter today — & I rather fear she
did not get mine in time to write on the 1 6th in which case
I fear I shall not hear till I get to Naples. That will be on the
31st the places being taken for Monday, two banquettes &
one coupe being the best we could do. I saw the Doria
gallery today (a wet day) with Lucas & Kyne, & the Colonna

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& Braschi palaces by myself. The Doria disappointed me —
it is a very large collection & would make a sufficient national
gallery for a second rate kingdom, but most of the pictures
seemed to me third rate. There is however one long corridor
full of portraits by Titian, Giorgione, & Rubens — in this
was also a fine Francia, & (very like Francia) a Giovanni
Bellini — these two & Perugino have a complete family like-
ness— a Leonardo which though called a portrait of the
second Giovanna of Naples is vastly like his one always recur-
ring face — & finally the Magdalen of Titian, a splendid
picture, perfectly satisfactory & pleasurable in execution
(conception apart) but as a Magdalen ridiculous. I have seen
many Titians at Rome & they all strengthen my old feeling
about him — he is of the earth earthy. At the other two
palaces there were some fine pictures, the majority portraits
by the Venetians — at the Braschi the so called Bella of Titian
which I don't like, & what is reckoned a chef d'ceuvre of
Corregio of whom there are few good specimens here which
I don't like either though I can see that it may have strong
points of colouring. Lots of Gaspar Poussins at all three,
deadly cold, & several ambitious Salvators to my feeling
quite poor: a St. John & his famous Belisarius, which seems
to me inferior to the poorest even of the Bolognese painters.
Evidently the culmination of painting was in the three
generations of which Raphael forms the last, Titian belong-
ing to it also though as he lived nearly 60 years longer than
Raphael one fancies him of a later date. The worship of the
still earlier painters is a dandyism which will not last, even I
hope in Germany: the contempt of the Bolognese eclectics
who came a century after has a foundation of reason but is
grossly exagerated. Guido especially has risen greatly with
me from what I have seen at Rome & so has even Domeni-
chino whose finest pictures are here: him however I do not,
as a matter of taste, care the least about. But I begin to think
Ruskin right about Gaspard & Salvator, perhaps even
Claude, & to think the modern English landscape painting

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1855 ITALY AND SICILY

better than theirs. If I did not write my impressions every
day I should not write them at all, for seeing so many pic-
tures one remembrance drives out another — but they leave
a total impression extremely agreeable. I never was immersed
in pictures before, & probably never shall be again to the
same degree, for at any place but Rome one hardly can be, &
even at Rome with her, there would be so much greater
activity of other parts of the mind that the atmosphere would
be different. Even the season & the bad weather contribute
by throwing me upon the indoor pleasures of the place. My
dearest may well smile at my pretension of giving opinions
about pictures, but as all I say about them is the expression
of real feelings which they give or which they fail to give me,
what I say though superficial is genuine & may go for what
it is worth — it does not come from books or from other
people — & I write it to her because it shews her that I have
real pleasure here & have made really the most of Rome in
that respects & in others.

Rome, 28 January: When I have paid my bill here, my
journey will have cost me up to this time (deducting the fees
to Deakin medecine & everything else not properly charge-
able to travelling & living) as nearly as possible ^50. That is
for about seven weeks and a half of time, but the distance
travelled is considerable. I shall post this at the moment of
leaving, (seven tomorrow morning) for the diligences start
from the very court yard of the post office.

After a night in Terracina Mill and his two companions Lucas and
Kyne arrived in Naples on 30 January. For ten days Mill, who knew
Naples from his visit with Mrs. Taylor sixteen years earlier, acted
mainly as cicerone to his friends, confined by bad weather mainly to
the town itself except for a visit to Paestium.

Naples, 9 February 1855: The papers bring up the news to
the large divisions again at the ministry & their resignation10
— a real misfortune for it is a chance if the next is as good.

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ITALY AND SICILY 1855

I think it was foolish of them to oppose an enquiry. When
such accusations are made & believed, no matter how in-
sufficient the authority, they ought to be enquired into. And
everything practical which is under the management of the
English higher classes is always so grossly mismanaged that
one can quite believe things to be very bad, though not a jot
the more because it is asserted by the Times & its corre-
spondent. How very Times like to cry out now for Lord
Grey as war minister after all their attacks on him in & out of
office for incapacity & conceit. I shall think seriously about
the book on Liberty since my darling approves of the sub-
ject. Lucas & his friends left early this morning, much
delighted with his visit & said repeatedly that he had seldom
enjoyed three weeks as much as since he had met me at
Rome. He is really for an Englishman a well informed man
— for every historical fact or Latin quotation I brought out
he had one as good. And he has some will & energy which
distinguish him from nearly everybody now — talks really
intelligently on politics on which he & I generally agree.11
Of course a professed Catholic could not agree with me on
much else & I should have talked much more controversially
with him but for the presence of his friend Kyne latterly
whose priesthood imposed a restraint on us both. . . . No-
thing can be more beautiful than this place. You can I dare
say imagine how I enjoy the beauty when I am not looking
at it — now in this bedroom by candlelight I am in a complete
nervous state from the sensation of the beauty I am living
among — while I look at it I only seem to be gathering honey
which I savour (?) the whole time afterwards. I wonder if
anything in Sicily or Greece is finer.

Gradually during the three weeks which Mill spent in and around
Naples his health and strength increased and he became again able to
enjoy his accustomed long walks and climbs.

Sorrento^ 12 February: Here I am darling & at the same
inn, La Sirena which looks as pretty as possible; only I think

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1855 ITALY AND SICILY

we were not on the ground floor which I am now. By the
bye I only ascertained today, by finding the number of the
house in Mrs. Starke, that my inn at Naples, the Hotel des
Etrangers, is the very casa Brizzi which we were in, though
not then called a hotel.

Sorrento, 13 February: Out today from half past nine till
five. I have recovered all my strength. How pleasant, once
more, after 3I hours walking, much of it climbing, to find
myself at the foot of a very steep & rather high mountain and
not feel that I had rather not climb it. I did so, & when I had
got to the top was not at all tired — & scarcely tired when I
got back to the inn, three hours after. The mountain in
question was the Punta della Campanella, or promontory of
Minerva, occupying the extreme end of the Peninsula of
Sorrento.

Naples, 1 j February: There is afresh arrival of newspapers
today, the only one for nearly a week: containing the new
ministry. Palmerston will now either make or mar his re-
putation— which will be expected from him & he will be
ambitious of being remembered as the Lord Chatham of this
war, I was glad to see Ld J. Russell, even at this late hour,
hoping that Lord Raglan would disregard the 'ribald press'
— pity he never said so till he felt the ribaldry of the Times
against himself in its grossest form. I perceive by incidental
mention that the newspaper stamp is to be given up — also
that the government are to bring in a bill for limited liability
in partnerships. My dearest one knows that I am not prone
to crying out T did it', but I really think my evidence12 did
this — for although there are many others on the same side,
yet there would but for me have been a great overbalance of
political economy authority against it — besides I have no-
where seen the objections effectually answered except in that
evidence. We have got a power of which we must try to make
a good use during the few years of life we have left. The more
I think of the plan of a volume on Liberty, the more likely

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ITALY AND SICILY 1855

it seems to me that it will be read & will make a sensation.
The title itself with any known name to it would sell an
edition. We must cram into it as much as possible of what
we wish not to leave unsaid. — I have been reading here, for
want of another book, Macaulay's Essays. He is quite a
strange specimen of a man of abilities who has not even one
of the ideas or impressions characteristic of this century &
which will be identified with it by history — except, strangely
enough, in mere literature. In poetry he belongs to the new
school, & the best passage I have met with in the book is
one of wonderful (for him) admiring appreciation of Shelley.
But in politics, ethics, philosophy, even history, of which he
knows superficially very much — he has not a single thought
of either German or French origin, & that is saying enough.
He is what all cockneys are, an intellectual dwarf — rounded
off & stunted, full grown broad & short, without a germ of
principle of further growth in his whole being. Nevertheless
I think he feels rightly (what little he does feel, as my father
would say) & I feel in more charity with him than I have
sometimes done, & I do so the more, since Lucas told me
that he has heart disease, & is told by his physician that
whenever he speaks in the H. of Commons, it is at the
hazard of falling dead.

Mill's spirits revived further after reaching Palermo. The dreaded
crossing from Naples, on an exceptionally fine and calm day, was
accomplished without the after-effect of the earlier sea-passages, and
after a few days in Palermo he felt himself fitter and more energetic
than he had done for a long time. Indeed his feats of walking would be
remarkable in a man of perfect health and a little later (March 5) he
himself observes:

it is curious that when I am too tired or weak to do anything
else I can climb mountains: that is if they are steep enough,
for a long ascending slope fatigues me greatly.

The first long letter from Sicily gives a full description of a tour on
Monte Pelerino in which Mill grows unusually enthusiastic.

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Palermo, 24 February: The view all the way up had been
very fine but from the top was one of the most glorious I
should think in the world. The whole north coast of Sicily
(all mountain & bay) as far as the eye could reach, the sea
studded with the little round Lipari islands, the larger island
of Ustica farther west, the exquisite Vega of Palermo & the
town itself spread out as in one of the bird's eye Panoramas,
the amphitheatre of mountains around it. Before I had
reached the top I had caught the first view of Etna, which
I thought I recognized in a white dome like object that rose
through & above the white clouds — & when I reached the
top, the soldiers confirmed this. The day was the most per-
fect of summer days — the wind light & easterly, just suffi-
cient to temper the sun's heat — the soldiers called it scirocco
di levante, to distinguish it I suppose from the real African
scirocco — Goodwin13 calls it the vento Greco. After enjoy-
ing the view for some time I started down the mountain. It
was 12 when I was at the top & it took an hour & a half to
reach, the foot. I certainly never at any time of my life could
have first climbed & then descended this mountain more
vigorous & fresh. I feel equal to climbing Etna itself if this
were the season for it. When I got to the inn I was not even
tired, except indeed my arms with the weight of plants I
carried, to the edification & amidst the apostrophes of the
public — who were full of questions & remarks — the most
complimentary of which was one I overheard, one woman
having given a shout of astonishment (all speaking here by
common people is shouting) when another quietly remarked
to her that it was for my bella, & was a galanterra. I wish,
indeed, it had been for my bella, & a day never passes when
I do not wish to bring flowers home to her.

A little earlier in the same letter he reports how through the lack
of a library or reading room :

I am thrown on my own books & have begun reading Goethe's
Italian travels which I had in Italy formerly & read — I like

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ITALY AND SICILY 1855

them much better now — he relates impressions in so very
lively a manner & they seem to me to be all true impressions
— he went, too, a learner in art, & I find many of his feelings
at first very like mine. I forgot, though bringing German
books, to bring a German dictionary, but I get on tolerably
without one. I have also Theocritus, a proper book for Sicily.

Palermo, 24 February: These travels of Goethe give me a
number of curious feelings. I had no idea that he was so
young14 & unformed on matters of art when he went to
Italy. But what strikes me most in this & in him is the
grand effort of his life to make himself a Greek. He laboured
at it with all his might, & seemed to have a chance of
succeeding — all his standards of taste & judgement were
Greek — his idol was symmetry: anything either in outward
objects or in characters which was great & incomplete
{exorbitant as Balzac says of a visage d'artiste) gave him a
cold shudder — he had a sort of contemptuous dislike for the
northern church architecture, but I was amused (& amazed
too) at his most characteristic touch — that even Greek, when
it is the Greek of Palmyra, is on too gigantic a scale for him:
he must have something little & perfect, & is delighted that
a Greek temple he saw at Assisi was of that & not the other
monstrous kind. He judged human character in exactly the
same way. With all this he never could succeed in putting
symmetry into any of his own writings, except very short
ones — shewing the utter impossibility for a modern with all
the good will in the world, to tightlace himself into the
dimensions of an ancient. Every modern thinker has so much
wider a horizon, & there is so much deeper a soil accumu-
lated on the surface of human nature by the ploughings it
has undergone & the growths it has produced of which soil
every writer or artist of any talent turns up more or less even
in spite of himself — in short the moderns have vastly more
material to reduce to order than the ancients dreamt of & the
secret of harmonizing it all has not yet been discovered — it

j.s.m. 225 Q

1855 ITALY AND SICILY

is too soon by a century or two to attempt either symmetrical
productions in art or symmetrical characters. We all need to
be blacksmiths or ballet dancers with good stout arms or
legs, useful to do what we have got to do, and useful to fight
with at times — we cannot be Apollos and Venuses just yet.

Continuing the same letter on the next day Mill begins to develop
plans for work to be done after his return home.

Palermo, 25 February: I have been thinking darling that
when I get back I should like to reprint a selection from the
review articles &c. It seems desirable to do it in our lifetime,
for I fancy we cannot prevent other people doing it when we
are dead, & if anybody did so they would print a heap of
trash which one would disown: now if we do it, we can
exclude what we should not choose to republish, & nobody
would think of reprinting what the writer had purposely
rejected. Then the chance of the name selling them is as
great as it is ever likely to be — the collection would probably
be a good deal reviewed for anybody thinks he can review
a miscellaneous collection but few treatises on logic to
political economy — above all it is not at all desirable to
come before the public with two books nearly together, so if
not done now it cannot be done till after some time after the
volume on Liberty — but by that time, I hope there will be
a volume ready of much better Essays, or something as
good. In fact I hope to publish some volume almost annually
for the next few years if I live as long — & I should like to get
this reprint, if it is to be done at all, off my hands during the
few months after I return in which India house business
being in arrear will prevent me from settling properly on the
new book. Will my dearest one think about this & tell me
what her judgment & also what her feeling is.

After ten days in Palermo Mill set out on March 2nd with a
muleteer and two mules for a tour round Sicily from which he
expects:

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ITALY AND SICILY 1855

such a fortnight's journey for beauty & interest as I never
had in my life before & as much pleasure as I can have
separated from her (March 1). [He finds his] muleteer pretty
much of the same politics as myself (but in his case) turning
chiefly on taxation, the excess of which is certainly one of
the great evils of this government (March 2).

But riding a mule proved at first much more exhausting than he
expected and even seemed to make it doubtful whether he would be
able to carry out his plan of going in this way all round the West and
South of Sicily. He visited the ruins of Segesta and Selinus and gradually
adjusted himself to the new mode of conveyance by walking great
parts of the way and sitting the rest of the time on the pack-mule on
the top of his luggage rather than in the saddle. But after a little more
than a week of this sort of travel he was inured to the hardships and
had acquired a new although, as it proved, unjustified confidence in
the state of his health.

Scicca, 11 March: As we had 3$ Sicilian, about 40 English,
miles to go today, the guide very reasonably proposed to
start at seven [from Castel Vitrano] : but after I was up &
ready, it was raining steadily & the sky was one mass of
unbroken cloud, seeming to preclude our going any further
today. However after I had breakfasted & read the idyls of
Theocritus & a canto of the Purgatorio of Dante (I finished
the Inferno, as well as Tasso, long since) there seemed some
signs of clearing, the rain ceased, & we started at half past
nine, the mules receiving an extra feed to enable them to do
the whole distance without stopping: & they arrived here,
apparently not fatigued, at half past six. Of course I had to
do a considerable part of this on the mule, but I certainly
walked a good deal more than half, & under such difficulties
as you may suppose. I never knew before what a country
without roads is. I fancied there were mule paths like those
at Nice or Sorrento: but those are made roads as much as
turnpike roads are, & as well suited for the kind of traffic
they are meant for as the ground admits. Not above five miles
of the forty today were made road, & that was where the

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soil was so dense a clay that it would have been totally im-
passable unless paved in the middle. Taught by experience
I now know that in so long a day's journey there was nothing
to do except to splash, not exactly through thick & thin,
but through thin, reserving my efforts to avoid the thick
when possible. When you consider that I had to ride on the
mule for long distances with my feet in the state implied,
you will see that this mode of travelling would have been
madness if I had been at all in the condition of a pulmonary
patient. Evidently the pulmonary disease has long been
arrested, & my digestion & general health are the things
to be now considered, & the walk to-day with all its difficul-
ties was not at all too much. I always got off the mule when
my feet began to get cold.

Bad weather continued to dog his way for another three days when
he reached Girgenti. From there a week or more of this sort of joumey
in fine weather and, apart from severe attacks of indigestion and
occasional struggles with fleas at the inns, tolerable comfort brought
him to Syracuse and the end of the mule ride.

Syracuse, 21 March: I had the good luck to approach the
town in a bright afternoon feeling & looking like the finest
July day. The approach was from the side of the greater
harbour, which was calm & glassy, & across it the large
white buildings of the town shone brightly in the sun. You
know the town is at present confined to the island, which was
only one of the five large quarters in the time of Syracusan
greatness: but even now it looks, & is, one of the largest
towns of Sicily. I do not think there is any town, not even
Athens, which I have so much feeling about as Syracuse: it
is the only ancient town of which I have studied, & know &
understand, the locality: so nothing was new or dark to me.
I cannot look at that greater harbour which my window in
the Albergo del Sole looks directly upon, without thinking
of the many despairing looks which were cast upon the
shores all round (as familiar to me as if I had known them all

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my life) by the armament of Nicias & Demosthenes. That
event decided the fate of the world, most calamitously. If
the Athenians had succeeded they would have added to their
maritime supremacy all the Greek cities of Sicily & Italy,
Greece must soon have become subordinate to them & the
empire they formed in the only way which could have united
all Greece, might have been too strong for the Romans and
Carthaginians. Even if they had failed & got away safe,
Athens could never have been subdued by the Peloponesians
but would have remained powerful enough to prevent Mace-
donia from emerging from obscurity, or at all events to be
a sufficient check on Phillip & Alexander. Perhaps the world
would have been now a thousand years further advanced if
freedom had thus been kept standing in the only place where
it ever was or could then be powerful. I thought & felt this
as I approached the town till I could have cried with regret &
sympathy. . . . O the splendor of the evening view from my
window. Down immediately on the greater harbor over
which boats, apparently pleasure boats, were moving — the
softest light over the plain & highlands, &, to the right,
Etna, which can be seen from nearly all Sicily. On enquiry
finding there was a diligence (the mail) to Catania in ten
hours, & that it would take my diminished luggage, I re-
solved to go by it & to stay in these comfortable quarters
long enough thoroughly to enjoy the place. So I parted from
my muleteer with great good will on my side & apparently
on his. If I go round Etna I shall miss him very much, but
it would be too expensive to keep him on till then. The last
six days, the fine weather part of this mule journey, have
been delightful, but I am not sorry to exchange it now for
going from place to place by diligence & taking walks from
the places I stop at.

After three more days in Syracuse which Mill thoroughly enjoyed
and on which he reported in great detail, he continued on the 25th
to Catania, where he arrived somewhat exhausted and with a new
attack of indigestion which, although he did not allow it seriously to

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interfere with his sightseeing and excursions during the next three
days, somewhat diminished the pleasure of it. But continued weakness
in no way diminished his enthusiasm over the beauty of the two-
day journey to Messina where, after visiting Taormina, he arrived
on the 30th. He found that a steamer to Corfu was due to leave
on the 1st and decided to risk the long sea passage, but a delay in
the arrival of the steamer kept him waiting at Messina for another
three days.

Messina, 1 April: I passed the rest of the day in putting in
order my great accumulation of plants, & in reading Dante
& the handbook for Greece. Nothing is more likely to keep
off sea sickness than filling my brain with an exciting concep-
tion of what I am going to do. I think I shall do in Greece
the contrary of what I have done in Italy, that is, I shall take
what opportunities I may have & even seek opportunities of
conversing with the educated class of natives. I am curious
about the mind of the leading people of Greece & feel that I
have almost everything to learn about them. Doubtless my
introductions to Finlay15 & Wyse16 will give me opportuni-
ties, & going in the first week in April I shall have a good
deal of time. I am obliged to menager the books I have with
me to make them hold out. I am keeping Sophocles for
Greece, Theocritus & the two Sicilian pastoral poets, Bion &
Moschus, I have finished, & like the two last much better
than the first, whom I think greatly overrated, & quite
inferior to his imitator, Virgil.

Messina, 2 April: Messina would be on some accounts the
best place in Sicily for us to live in : it is I think still more
beautiful than Palermo; & there is more life in the place,
more foreigners come there & it is practically much nearer
to England & France owing to the English & French
steamers to Malta & the Levant which do not go near
Palermo: it is strange therefore that there should be but one
post in a week & I suspect there must be ways of sending
via this or that in the intervals. Oates says the Galignani

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ITALY AND SICILY 1855

reaches him, sometimes, very quickly, by the French
steamers. But I do not think we should like to live in so
stagnant a place as Sicily where one falls a month behind in
news if one has not one's own newspaper & meets no one
who knows a single European fact.

23]

Chapter Kiev en

GREECE

1855

fter forty-eight hours spent foodless on his back in his cabin,
,Mill arrived at Corfu in tolerably good shape on 6 April —
.in 1855 Good Friday, both according to the Western and to
the Greek calender. The Ionian Islands were then still a British
possession and Mill soon found agreeable company and, with an Irish
botanist and a young man from Oxford, for eight days explored
Corfu and finds it 'decidly the most beautiful & agreeable little bit of
our planet that I have yet seen & I do not at all expect to find anything
better in Greece'.1 He soon came to envy the post of High Com-
missioner there when an unexpected offer from the Colonial Secretary,
Bowen, seemed almost to provide the perfect answer to his search for a
place at which to live.

Corfu, 8 April 18 55: 1 breakfasted with him [Bowen] in his
very nice rooms & took the opportunity of asking him about
the eligibility of the place for living in, telling him my reason
for being interested about it — that either my wife's health or
my own, or both, might very possibly make it desirable for
me to fix in a southern climate. He gave the greatest encour-
agement— said it had often surprised him that so few Eng-
lish settle here, that it can only be because the advantages of
the place are not known. He said the common idea of the
English here is that you can live as well on £600 a year here
as on £1200 in England, but that quiet & economical people

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GREECE 1855

can do much better: for instance his predecessor as Colonial
Secretary told him he never spent more than ^500 though he
had several children & kept a carriage & two or three horses.
He asked me if I should like to be Resident of one of the
islands — saying that the work does not take above two hours
a day to an energetic person as he has not to govern but to
review the acts of the native government all of which must be
submitted to him in writing for his sanction — that the pay is
£500 & a house, or rather two houses, in town & country,
that the appointment is not with the Colonial Office but with
the Lord High Commissioner who is always eager to get
better men than the officers accidentally in command of the
troops, whom he is generally obliged to appoint for want of
better & whose incompetence & rashness sometimes go near
to drive him mad — that either Cephalonia or Zante will be
vacant within a year; that they are not bound to any repre-
sentation except that they give a ball to the cheif people of
the island once a year on the queen's birthday & a dinner to
the members of the native government about twice a year.
This is tempting, now when I see how much pleasanter at
least Corfu is than most of the places we could think of going
to : & if Ward2 had been going to remain I could probably
have had the place for asking. The new man3 is the son of an
India director but my having known him, as he died under a
cloud, would not I suspect be much of a recommendation to
the son. Bowen introduced me at the garrison library, the
only place where one can see English newspapers & periodi-
cals— there I learnt for the first time Hume's death:4 if all
did as much good in proportion to their talents as he, what a
world it would be! also that Lewis is Chancellor of the
Exchequer & Vernon Smith at the India Board:5 this last I
suspect will give me a good deal of influence there.

Towards the end of his stay in Corfu, and after a long and anxious
pause, Mill at last received news from his wife. Apparently her health
had been badly affected by the severe winter.

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Corfu, 14 April: Thank heaven it is over — the illness &
the winter too — & though the last letter does not say how
you are the handwriting & its being in ink are encouraging.
Respecting the danger of travelling in Greece my precious
one will have seen by my last letter that I am quite attentive
to the subject, & shall not run any serious risks. I shall be
guided by Wyse who must know the state of the country.
You might well say that some other person's savoir faire was
wanted 'in addition' to mine — I could not help laughing
when I read those words, as if I had any savoir faire at all. . . .

Bowen afterwards renewed the subject of the Resident-
ship, said that Zante will be vacant this year, that it will be
offered to Wodehouse6 & if he takes it Cefalonia will be
vacant & that he is almost sure Sir J. Young has no one to
whom he wishes to give it & seemed very desirous that I
should think seriously about it. I told him that I had not
made up my mind to leave the India house but might very
possibly be obliged to do so & that this opening would be a
strong additional inducement. As one dinnering leads to
another I found myself in for another dinner with Sir J.
Young, yesterday: the only persons present were the Regent
of Corfu (a Count something) & Col. Butler.7 I learnt a good
deal & so did the Governor from the Regent, about the stat-
istics of the island & had some talk with Sir J. Y. about the
taxes. I was glad to see so much of him in case we should
think in earnest about coming here — I do not believe there
is a more beautiful place in the world & few more agreeable
— the burthen of it to us would be that we could not (with
the Residentship) have the perfectly quiet life, with ourselves
& our own thoughts which we prefer to any other, but if we
have tolerable health there is not more of societyizing than
would be endurable & if we have not, that would excuse us.
This morning is the day for going to Athens, but the steamer
has not arrived & I cannot tell when we shall get off ... I
am impatient to get to Greece now, having seen this island
thoroughly & so as never to forget it : & it has seemed to me

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always more & more charming. All however say that the
climate is extremely variable, much rain, a good deal of cold,
& intense heat for three months. . . . Bowen tells me that
Reeve8 is editor of the Edinburgh! it is indeed fallen. Who
will consent to have his writings judged of, & cut & carved
by Reeve? For us it is again a complete exclusion.

There is no further mention of the Residentship in Mill's letters,
but from a letter written about this time by Mrs. Mill to her brother
in Australia it would seem that it was probably at her wish that he did
not accept the offer.

Mrs. Mill to Arthur Hardy, about April 18 55 :9 Mr. Mill has
the offer of a very nice place under government in one of the
Greek islands, it being supposed that the climate might suit
both his and my health, but tho' much tempted I do not
think we shall accept it, we both dread the heat which is said
to be excessive in the summer.

Leaving Corfu on the morning of 15 April, and after first slowly
steaming along the Ionian Islands and up the Gulf of Corinth, and
after a carriage drive across the Isthmus, Mill reached Athens on the
evening of the 17th.

Athens, ig April: I have made good use of the two days I
have been here : yesterday I saw almost all the antiquities &
went today to Eleusis. I have already got quite into the feel-
ing of the place — with regard to scenery it is hitherto rather
below my expectation, very inferior to Corfu & the Corin-
thian Gulf, the mountains though otherwise fine being arid
& bare, & very like those of the South of France, while the
peculiar beauty of this place, the bright & pure atmosphere,
I have not had — both these days though sunny having been
extremely hazy, so that I did not see the mountains half as
well as on the rainy day of my arrival. Wyse says that Lord
Carlisle had the same ill luck, & only had before his depar-
ture a few days of brilliant weather. Nevertheless the view
from the Acropolis was splendid. The temples surpassed my

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expectation rather than fell short of it though I had not
fancied that so much of the Parthenon had perished. The
beauty of it however is what no engravings can give any
proper idea of even independent of what all the buildings
here owe to the excessive beauty of the Pentelican marble
they are made of. The temple of Theseus I have from my
childhood been familiar with a print of: I should never be
tired of looking at it. The interior has been made a museum
for the sculptures they occasionally dig up & I was not at all
prepared for their extreme beauty; there is one statue very
like, & I think equal to, the Mercury of Antinous of the
Vatican, & a number of sepulchral groups in which grace &
dignity of attitude & the expression of composed grief in the
faces & gestures are carried as far as I think mortal art has
ever reached.

20 April: The Acropolis with its four temples, (though the
Propylaea is not really a temple) combines magnificently
with the hills about — & of the distant mountains Pentelicus
& the island of Aegina [?] are the finest, except the group at
the Isthmus which are glorious. What light it throws on
Greek history to know that the AcroCorinth is seen as a great
object from all these heights — much larger & nearer looking
than the Knockholt beeches from home. I think that corner
of the Morea must be perfectly divine. The gulf or narrow
channel between Salamis & the main land in which the battle
was fought is just under our feet but I cannot realize the
history of the place while I am looking at it — all the alen-
tours are so different. I shall do that better in our drive at
dear Blackheath.

On the following, perfectly cloudless but still somewhat hazy day
Mill climbed Pentelicus and was rewarded with a perfect view.

21 April: I never saw any combination of scenery so per-
fectly beautiful & so magnificent — & the sunset & evening
lights on the innumerable mountains in front of us returning
were exquisite. The haze does not so much affect the beauty

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of the lights when the sun is low. The more than earthly
beauty of this country quite takes away from me all care or
feeling about historical associations, which I had so strongly
at Syracuse. That I shall have when I read Greek history
again after becoming acquainted with the localities. I was not
at all tired, except the hand which carried the plants, for the
load which Perry10 & I brought in was quite painful to mind
& body. I never felt so much the embarras des richesses.
Determining them with imperfect books takes several hours
in every 24: it is now past 12 & I have only determined
about a third, the rest must remain in water & in the tin case
till tomorrow — to be determined by day light — nor have I
been able to change a single paper. I am here in the season of
flowers as well as of all other beauty. It is quite true that
nothing, not even Switzerland, is comparable in beauty to
this — but as in all other cases, other inferior beauty will be
more, not less, enjoyable in consequence. If my darling
beauty could but see it! it is the only scenery which seems
worthy of her. Even Sicily recedes quite into the background.
And it is but a fortnight since I thought nothing could be
finer than Messina!

After ten days in Athens Mill started on 28 April with three com-
panions for the first of his longer excursions, to Nauplia, Argos and
Corinth, which, however, he had scarcely time to describe since after
only one night at Athens he starts on 2 May for a much longer
excursion to the north. With one companion, a young Englishman he
had met at Athens, and a guide, Mill travelled for thirteen days
through Attica, Euboea and Central Greece and with his detailed daily
accounts filled a letter of 22 closely written pages which he posted
after his return to Athens.

Tatoe {the ancient Decekia), 2 May: I have got thus far, my
angel, & am now writing in a nice room of a very pretty
maison de campagne in I should think the finest situation in
Attica, belonging to somebody who was minister of war
during part of the revolutionary period. It stands a little way
up Parnes, on the side next to Pentelicus, at a short distance

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from the place which the Lacedaemonians fortified in the
latter part of the Peloponesian war to take military possession
of Attica. Where there are no inns, travellers are of course
entertained in private houses — the owner of this is now
absent. We form quite a caravan, having four horses & two
mules, three for ourselves and the guide, three for luggage &
utensils, beds, provisions &c. also three muleteers & a cook:
all this being provided for the 25 francs a day we each pay,
which also includes the remuneration of the guide. . . The
commencement of the journey is auspicious. I am writing
this while waiting for dinner, on a table spread as neatly as at
home & I have no doubt we shall dine as well & as pleasantly
as at the hotel at Athens. Our guide George Macropoulos,
evidently understands this part of the business, though he
does not know the mountains from a distance & misleads us
in the most absurd manner. I have hitherto found, much to
my surprise, the Greeks a remarkably stupid people — the
stupidest I know, without even excepting the English. I
make every allowance for the fact that they & we communi-
cate in languages which are foreign to both & which they
know very imperfectly — but they do not shew the cleverness
that French, Italians & even Germans do in making out
one's meaning, & they never seem able to find out what one
wants. Invariably they do the very opposite of what one tells
them, being much too conceited to say they do not under-
stand. . . . My travelling companion Dawson is pleasant
mannered & seems desirous of information but very little
educated & even leaves out many an h — which one would
not have expected from his appearance or the tones of his
voice, or his general manner of expressing himself.

On the next day the party, after crossing the range of the Parnassus,
descended through the valley of Tanagra, continued along the coast of
the channel of Euripus, over which they finally passed to Euboea over
the bridge at Chalcis, where they spent a night in the house of a local
merchant. Proceeding north through the mountains in the interior of
the island they made their next stop at Achmet Aga.

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Achmet Aga, 4 May: a village made entirely by an English-
man named Noel who for his reward has lately had his house
actually gutted of everything worth removing, & the whole
village plundered by a set of brigands. It is in his house we
are lodged quite unexpectedly, for the guide told us he had
asked hospitality of a German named Emile. This is exactly
like the ignorance & gross inaccuracy of these guides (this
man is thought one of the best, & I have tried two others.)

Continuing their way further north in the company of their host for
the night, Mill's enjoyment of the beauty of the landscape steadily
increased. Writing from 'a village in the north of Euboea where we
are lodged very comfortably' he wrote on

5 May: It is useless attempting to describe it. Whatever
one picks out as the choice bits in any other southern country
compose the whole of Greece, & here we have it mixed with
much of what is finest in the northern countries. We often
overlook the Aegean on the Eastern side of the island, with
Scyros apparently quite near — a long mountain ridge : & at
last came in sight of the Gulf of Nolo in front with Othrys &
Pelion behind it & the islands of Peparethis Sciathos &
others over against its entrance — (on a clearer day we should
also have seen Ossa & Olympus) making the divinest view I
ever beheld. About the middle of the day we came to a large
rich village where the people were assembled for the fete of
their patron St. George & we saw dancing — of the most bar-
baric kind to truly Turkish music, a drum going like strokes
of a blacksmith's hammer & a sort of flute sounding like a
bagpipe. There was general personal cleanliness & much fine
dressing — they are an odd people, like South Sea islanders I
should think. Noel showed us several of the cottages of his
peasants — one large room with an earthen floor, the fire in
the middle & a hole in the roof above it for the smoke — one
end of the room sometimes partitioned off, for all the animals
cows, oxen & all. In the midst of one of these stood the pay-
sanne, a neat, still handsome woman, quite finely dressed for

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the fete, making the oddest contrast with all that surrounded
her. At the dancing nothing could exceed the polite attention
we received from all the people. It is impossible to dislike
such universally good humoured & courteous people but
they are almost savages. They always consider & speak of
themselves as Orientals not Europeans.

On the following day they reached through 'Yerochori' (Xiro-
chorion) the channel which separates Euboea from what was then the
northernmost strip of Greek mainland at Oreos and after long negotia-
tions succeeded in hiring the only boat in the roads large enough to take
horses up the gulf of Zeitun. Unfavourable winds prolonged what need
have been no more than a three-hour crossing to more than twenty,
including a whole night which Mill, without damage to his health,
spent on the deck, landing at last at

Stylidha (Sty/is), 7 May: Our guide wanted us to land at
Molos on the south side, very near Thermopylae, & not go
to Lamia at all, & by this we should have saved a day, but as
the dangerous part of the journey, if any, begins here, & we
were told that there were only national guards at Molo, in
whom we felt no confidence, we decided (as the Eparchos11
had advised) to land at Stylidha, the port of Lamia on the
north side. There we waited on the civil & military authori-
ties, presented our ministerial order, & are to have a guard
of six regular soldiers & mounted gendarmes tomorrow. To
this we are legally entitled : what we give to them is backshish
— a word in much use here — in which form they will cost
us about a dollar a day.

Topolia, 9 May: We started from Stylidha with our six
guards who however were not regular soldiers : but they only
went with us to Lamia, three hours off, past the head of the
gulf. Here the commandant gave us two non-commissioned
officers & eight privates, to whom the commandant of the
following station of his own accord added two more ; so we
are well protected. The number makes no difference in what
we pay. Some of them go before us & some behind, & at the

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commencement they threw out vedettes to right & left but
they left off this when they got into the narrow ways. At the
head of the gulf there is a considerable plain & the part near
Lamia is better cultivated than any other part of Greece I
have seen. There is however a great deal of marsh round the
head, as with the Lake of Como. After crossing this place we
entered the pass of Thermopylae, between Oeta & the gulf;
first crossing the Spercheius, a river of some size, the first
real river I have seen in Greece. But Leonidas would not
know the place again, for in the 2350 years which have since
passed, the Spercheius has brought down so much soil that it
has converted the narrow pass into a broad flat partly marsh,
partly covered with scrub, through which the river winds its
course in a very slanting direction & at last falls into the gulf.
The side of Oeta rises very steep, but covered with copse.
The place of the ancient pass is fixed by some hot sulphur-
eous spring which now as then gush out from the foot of
the mountain, & also by the tumulus which was raised to
contain the slain.

After a night spent at the village of Boudonitza they crossed the
mountain range towards the south. The same day's entry then con-
tinues:

We were now completely in Swiss scenery. When we
reached the top of the pass we looked down suddenly upon
the great valley of Phocis, larger and broader than the Valais,
& reaching from Boeotia to Thessaly — it lies between the
range of Parnassus & that of Oeta, the former of which was
now spread out before us, & the groups of summits more
particularly known by the name of Parnassus was exactly
opposite. Clouds however being on most of the tops & it
soon began to rain, & it rained at intervals all the rest of the
day. The valley is very green at this season — the centre alone
is cultivated, though the whole is evidently very fertile — the
rest is waste or beautiful woods of oak & plane: several
beautiful streams run down it towards Boeotia & I suppose

j.s.m. 241 R

1855 GREECE

all join it lower down. But a village or two of few houses, just
visible in nooks of the mountain, are all that remains to
represent the twenty cities of Phocis. People talk of coming
to Greece to see ruins, but the whole country is one great
ruin.

From Topolia a very short day's journey of only four hours took
them to Delphi.

Delphi, io May: Delphi is one of the very few places in
Greece of which the views in Wordsworth's Greece12 give a
more favourable idea than the truth: it is however fine;
backed by a very precipitous cleft portion of Parnasses &
looking down into the broad valley with a narrow gorge at
the bottom of it, rapidly ascending from right to left. I dare
say it was very imposing when it was a fine town with a
magnificent temple: it seems to have been at that time built
on artificial ground supported by a solid wall along the
mountain side, much of which (most splendid masonry) still
remains. The Castalian spring is a humbug. The only bit of
ground approaching to a level to be found near the town was
also propped up by a wall & formed the stadium or race-
course for the Pythian games, the most important & cele-
brated in Greece next to the Olympic.

After a partial ascent of Parnassus the party almost completed their
circuit of the mountain by descending to the plains of Boeotia and Lake
Copias, Mill as usual noting all the places with classic associations,
from the exact spot where Oedipus met his father to the scene of the
tragic adventure of Philomela and of the battle of Chaeronea. The last
two stages of this tour, via Livadia and Plateae, were somewhat spoiled
for Mill by a more than usually severe attack of indigestion. Arriving
back at Athens on 15 May, he was further disquieted by unfavourable
news about his wife's health. But as a second letter gave a somewhat
more reassuring account he decided to go on with his original plans, and
after a short rest, he proceeded on his tour of the Pelopennesus.

Athens, 1$ May: I shall now take three clear days of rest
before starting again, for which I shall be much the better,

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although I am not at all done up by the journey. I have been
more fatigued some days than others, but not increasingly
fatigued: when I have been able to take a long walk before
riding at all, I have hardly been tired at all — & so when the
country has admitted of much trotting & galloping. It is the
sitting on horseback with my feet dangling that fatigues me
when long continued: but I now recover myself by walking,
which I could not so well do in Sicily. My digestion is not
quite so bad & I hope by degrees to bring it round. Probably
now a perfectly regular life such as we have at home will
agree better with it than travelling. But to all appearance the
pulmonary complaint has derived the greatest benefit from
this holiday. I called on Wyse this morning & saw him : he
agreed in all I said about the Greeks, & told me many things
shewing the same brainless stupidity, & incapacity of adapt-
ing means to ends, in the acts of their government which I
had observed in the common people. I now perfectly under-
stand all I see in Greece, but I must say I now feel little or no
interest in the people. Still if they get education they may
improve. Wyse thinks the stupidity is in a great measure
laziness but he admits them to be stupid.

At Athens Mill parted from his companion and on 1 8 May started
alone on his Peloponnesian journey, which on the first two days took
him merely to Megara and Corinth respectively. Only the third day,
his forty-ninth birthday, brings him to really new fields.

Valley of the Lake Stymphalus, 20 May: This day last year I
did not think I should be alive now, much less that I should
pass my next birthday in Arcadia, & walk & ride nearly
14 hours of it. ... I am glad I have not missed this as it is
not only of a totally different character from all else in
Greece, but the mountains finer. They run into so many
intersecting ranges that I have not yet got to understand
them, but we do seem to have now come up to a high barrier
range running east & west. We are in a village at the end of
the valley of the Lake Stymphalus.

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In two further long stages Mill continued south, almost the whole
length of the peninsula, towards Sparta. Although he feels he is thinner
than he has been before in his life, he stood the strain well.

Vurlia^ 22 May: [Laconia] however though it would be
admired anywhere else, is altogether the least striking part of
Greece, the forms of the mountains being more rounded than
usual, & the whole being a complete wild with a barren arrid
appearance — only fine when a glimpse is caught of the
Taygetus: but I was well rewarded at the last by the very
finest view in Greece, at least made so by the lights of the
sunset, but it must always be one of the finest. This was in
the descent to this village of Vurlia (near the site of Sellasia)
which is itself very high up in the mountains on the east side
of the magnificent green valley of Sparta. The opposite
boundary is all formed by the range of Taygetus on which
this house directly looks — & which is as fine as any part of
the Alps & much finer than Parnassus or any other mountain
I have seen in Greece. The highest part is something like the
Dent du Midi at the head of the Lake of Geneva & at present
brilliant with snow like that, but from that highest part it
extends in a jagged ridge or series of peaks to right & left,
fully to the length of the Mont Blanc group of mountains.
Below it glitters the Eurotus — the valley immediately under
the village is hid, but above & below it glitters like an
emerald, as do also the sides of the mountains, & the view
northward to the mountains of Western Arcadia by the sun-
set lights was glorious — the mountains themselves very fine
— especially one like an enormous dome with smaller domes
to right & left for shoulders. I shall see this valley to-morrow
— unhappily time does not admit of my passing a night at
Sparta & seeing the country in the way I should wish.

Khan of Georgifzi in Laconia, 23 May: I walked to Sparta
after breakfast, a three hours walk. The valley, like all other
scenery, loses much by the glare of the sunshine, but it does
not disappoint the expectations that it raised, except that the

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mountains on the opposite side to Taygetus are compara-
tively tame. The scale of the scenery is so great, that what
seemed from above one great though uneven valley is partly
made up of the buttresses of Taygetus — a range of green
mountains projecting forward from the great range — behind
and above these is a region of firs, & above that is the region
of snow. There are besides lower hills along the middle of
the valley so that the really level ground is narrow — until we
reach Sparta where these intermediate hills appear to cease,
& we see the mountains on both sides gradually decline into
the long low ridges which form the two great southern
promontories of Malea & Matapan.

Sparta itself, a new village, proved comparatively disappointing and
the only impression worth recording was a visit to the local and some-
what westernized judge. Turning northward again up the valley
Eurotas into the interior, the plague of vermin became serious:

Constantinos in Messenia, 25 May: I am writing in the usual
great hayloft, devoured by fleas — those in Sicily were
nothing to them, these are so numerous & bite so hard.
The people alas keep their rugs etc. here, which ensures
what I am suffering. Since I began the last sentence I caught
one in the act of getting into my nostril. They make their
way up from the floor much faster than I could catch them if
I did nothing else. I have two days to relate. The ways from
Laconia into Messenia are two : one up a gorge of Taygetus,
& through a very conspicuous gap in the ridge, to Calamata :
the English at Athens all recommend this route, which is the
shortest but the most difficult. The guide however said horses
could not go — mules must be taken at Sparta & the horses
send round — which would cause expense & delay, & though
I suspect the difficulty is of the guide's own making, I gave
up the idea. (The fleas are now attacking in columns, &
firing into many parts of my body at once.) The other way is
by rounding the extreme north end of Taygetus, & this we
began on the 23rd & completed on the 24th.

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The excursion into Messenia by this second somewhat roundabout
route took Mill altogether four days, with the flea plague getting worse
every night: proceeding hence north through Laconia he was gradually
getting tired of travelling, and even his final visit to Olympia on the
day before reaching the port of Pyrgos could do little to revive his
flagging spirits. From Pyrgos he proceeded by boat to the British
island of Zanti, his real port of embarkation.

Zand, 2g May: Our boat was a decked one with two masts
& four great oars, & a hole below where there was just room
for me to lie, & I turned in at dark — & though the fleas in
the boat or in my clothers, or both, kept running all over me
& biting me, my sleepiness made me sleep very sound
though conscious of often waking & doing battle with them.
When I finally awaked at half past five this morning we
seemed almost arrived but as there had been an almost com-
plete calm they had had to row all night. We did not arrive
till eight. The inn here though a poor one is a perfect luxury
after my late lodgings. I made myself thoroughly clean &
comfortable, then breakfasted heartily from which I have
since suffered not the smallest inconvenience, but it is so hot
here that I have been very little out except to the bankers.
The air as usual was so hazy that the coast of Greece was
invisible when I landed, but I shall perhaps see it from the
castle hill which I propose climbing in the cool of the even-
ing. People here say the summer has set in hot all at once.
The banker here introduced me to the club where I saw the
latest Galignani's: everything both in England & the Crimea
as unsatisfactory as ever.

Zanti, 30 May: I had my climb in the evening to the castle
& saw the sun set from it about 7 oclock, so much shorter
are the summer days in this southern latitude. The view is
very fine. The promontory of Castel Tornese in the Morea
was very distinct, & seemed quite near: the mountains
behind Mesolonghi & those of Arcadia looked dim in
the hazy distance. So good bye beautiful Greece — more

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beautiful than I ever expected, but beautiful as you are I
never wish to see you again — for I do not wish ever again
to go so long a journey without my beloved one, & the
country will not be fit for her to come to while we live.13
What a pleasure it is to see again something looking like
civilization.

On the following day Mill boarded the steamer from Athens to
Ancona and during the stop at Corfu posted the long report of his
tour of the Peloponnesus to Mrs. Mill at Paris, where, as letters waiting
for him informed him, she was shortly proceeding to meet him. From
Ancona, where he arrived on 3 June, he started on the following
day for the journey to Paris, which he did not expect to complete in
much under three weeks, since he felt that he could 'not venture to
travel by diligence, i.e. day & night more than part of the way'. And
although he is compelled to use right from the start the more comfort-
able mode of travelling by voiture, his apprehensions of the strain of the
journey proved only too soon justified. At Florence, where reports of
bandits on the direct road to Bologna led him to make a detour,
renewed haemorrhages of the lung proved how ill founded had been his
hope of the disease being stopped and compelled him to consult a
doctor. This and the dates of the diligences forced on him a three-day
delay which he used for some sightseeing and one more long letter to
Mrs. Mill.

Florence, 7 June: She will not have to wait very long for me
at or near Paris & I shall see her in a fortnight at furthest.
I look forward to it with delight — but ah darling I had a
horrible dream lately — I had come back to her & she was
sweet & loving like herself at first, but presently she took a
complete dislike to me saying that I was changed much for
the worse — I am terribly afraid sometimes lest she should
think so, not that I see any cause for it, but because I know
how deficient I am in self consciousness & self observation,
& how often when she sees me again after I have been even a
short time absent she is disappointed — but she shall not be,
she will not be so I think this time — bless my own darling,
she has been all the while without intermission present to

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my thoughts & I shall have been all the while mentally
talking with her when I have not been doing so on paper.

Florence, 8 June: [I] sat a great while in the Tribune (?)
full of admiration — not of the Venus de Medici for decidedly
I do not like her: I never liked the casts of her, & I do not
like the original a bit better. I think her the poorest of all the
Venuses. She is neither the earthly Venus nor the Urania.
Of course she is a beautifully formed woman, but the head is
too too ridiculously small, as if to give the idea of having no
room for brains — & they may well say she does not look
immodest, for the expression of the face is complete old
maidism. At least these are very strongly my impressions &
I am sure they are quite spontaneous. But there is a host of
most beautiful statues & pictures there though the statues
not quite equal to the Vatican. There are enough to make me
feel in an atmosphere of art — even to be among all those
Roman emperors whom I have got to know like personal
acquaintances. There are also so many fine statues & pictures
all over Florence that I could soon get into the kind of feeling
I had at Rome of being bathed in art. It is strange that the
Florentines should have had so many great painters & sculp-
tors— I suppose they are like the English, who though so
unpoetical a people have had more great poets than any other
country. I am convinced that the Florentines are a most un-
artistic, tasteless people. Who but such a people would let all
the churches be masses of deformity which are positive eye-
sore, and disgrace the city — like houses half built, of half
burnt bricks — things in which no private person could bear
to live — the only material exceptions being the Cathedral
which has no front, & Santa Maria Novella which has
nothing but a front. . . . The town itself is a good deal more
lively now when the shops are open, & I sometimes for a
moment forget that I am not in a French town. I feel more in
Europe than I have done at any other town of Italy. I think
I could feel quite at home here if our home was here — but

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GREECE 1855

according to Wilson14 it is a place quite unfit for pulmonary
invalids, both in winter & summer.

Florence^ 9 June: What I left undone yesterday I have done
today, & I have seen Florence itself pretty completely,
though nothing of its environs. I passed a great part of the
morning in the Pitti Gallery. ... It is a very large collection,
mostly of good pictures, and many chefs d'oeuvre. Those
which struck me most were two of Perugino which Murray
in ten columns of notices does not even mention — one a
descent from the Cross, which when I had only seen the
print of it I thought one of the greatest pictures ever painted
— all the disagreeable of the subject taken away & nothing
but a beautiful dead body & the most beautiful feelings in
the numerous gracefully grouped spectators. The other is an
adoration of the infant Jesus by the Virgin & some children
— a small thing compared to the other but quite admirable
by the naturalness & natural grace of the children — the
Virgin also very beautiful. There are many fine pictures by
Fra Bartolomeo & Andrea del Sarto, masters whom I admire
more & more.

Another two days' travel by diligence brought Mill to the railhead at
Mantua and by rail to Verona and on the following day to Milan,
where from some new Galiagni's he learnt about events in the world.

Mi/an, 12 June: I read Lord John Russell's disgusting
speech on the impossibility of doing anything for Poland &
the extreme desirableness of maintaining Austria in all her
possessions — I felt a strong desire to kick the rascal — it is a
perfect disgrace to England that he should be tolerated as a
liberal (!) minister a day after such a speech. What with our
sentimental affection for one despot & our truckling to the
other great enemy, we are likely to have a precious character
with all lovers of freedom on the Continent !

In spite of continuous spitting of blood and in spite of the warning
that the road over the Gothard was not yet open for wheel carriages,

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1855 GREECE

and that the highest point of the pass must be crossed in sledges, Mill
chose that route as the one likely to bring him quicker to his
destination.

Lugano, 14 June: I had the mortification of finding that I
had lost my botanical tin box — which has been most useful
to me, holding an apparently impossible quantity of speci-
mens & keeping them fresh in the hottest weather for
24 hours. It must have fallen or wriggled out of my great
coat pocket in the diligence or railway carriage. I am much
vexed at it. I have lost nothing else of consequence in this
journey — nothing beyond a pocket handkerchief which I lost
on Pentelicus & an old shirt which must have been kept by
some blanchisseuse — though I hardly ever failed to count
the things & compare them with the note.

Airolo, 16 June: Today it rained worse than ever, but I
took my place for Fluelen on the Lake of Lucerne, & pro-
ceeded up the pass to the place where the sledging begins —
& to my consternation found that the sledges, little things
holding two persons each, were entirely open. Several pas-
sengers were as much surprised as I was, saying that on the
Simplon & the Mont Cenis the sledges are covered, & that
they should not have come if they had known — but to me it
was out of the question going on, as I should have been
thoroughly soaked & had a day in the diligence afterwards,
which in my present state would have had a good chance of
killing me. I had no choice, disagreeable as it was, but to get
out bag & baggage & go back to Airolo by the return dili-
gence about an hour & a half afterwards, here to wait till the
rain ceases, which maybe by tomorrow morning, or in these
mountains may not be for some time.

Fortunately the next day was fine, and Mill reached Fluelen with-
out excessive discomfort but sufficiently tired to feel that he ought to
devote the next morning to his 'real rest', a five-hour morning walk,
before continuing by the steamer to Lucerne. Leaving there on the
19th for Basle and Strasbourg, he probably reached Paris and Mrs. Mill
three days later.

250

Chapter Twelve

LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF
MRS. MILL

1856-1858

e have no documents of the winter 1855-6, which Mill
and his wife spent again in England. In July and early-
August 1855 they went with Haji and Lily to Switzer-
land, travelling slowly to Geneva during the last week of July and
visiting Chamonix later. At the end of this tour, while Mrs. Mill went
on to Paris, Mill left her at Besancon to go for a week's walking tour
to the French Jura. Two of his letters written from this tour1 are
extant and again testify of the prodigious feats of walking which the
invalid found not only compatible with but conducive to his health.

J. S. M. to H. Mr. Le Pont/on the Lac de Joux [Vaux],/
Wedy, evg [August 13, 1855]/ I enjoy the place very much
& you may suppose I am very well when I say that after
climbing Mont Tendre, a most beautiful mountain, one of
the highest in the Jura, which with a rest on the grass at
the top & the return took six hours, I only staid half an hour
to eat a crust of bread & drink a whole jug of milk, & set
off again to climb another mountain & make a round which
took another five hours- — & I am now not more tired than
is agreeable. The views of the Alps here are splendid, especi-
ally that from the Mont Tendre — in spite of a great deal of
haze towards Berne & Savoy I saw the snowy range for a

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1856 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

great distance, Mont Blanc tolerably & the Dent du Midi,
the nearer Valais mountains & the whole lake of Geneva
from end to end well : also the lake of Neuchatel, the whole
Jura, & France I should think nearly to Dijon. The evening
walk was still finer: the bit of Valorbe which I descended to
get to the source of the Orbe (the place where the water of
the two lakes is supposed to come out) equals anything I
ever saw — a narrow gorge between precipices but itself full
of the richest Jura verdure of pasture & wood so high as
almost to hide the precipice: & the source with its exquisite
clearness & great mass of water coming out from under an
amphitheatre of precipice in the heart of a wood far surpasses
Vaucluse. I also went over in the rocks above a really
immense cave but without any stalactites. If my beloved one
was with me I could stay here with pleasure the whole week
— the inn would do — a little below the mark of St. Martin
but larger rooms. As it is I shall leave tomorrow: for quiet
enjoyment one requires to be two — by oneself there is
nothing but activity.

Mill appears to have joined his wife at Boulogne about a week later
and to have reached London after another ten days, about the last day
of August.

In the autumn of 1856 Helen Taylor at last obtained her mother's
consent to her trying her luck on the stage. Her passion for the theatre,
which had already shown itself when she was quite a young girl, seems
never to have left her, but her mother had for years opposed her wish
to become an actress. At last it was arranged through the actress Fanny
Stirling, who appears to have been an old acquaintance and perhaps had
taught Helen Taylor, that the latter should try her powers with a
provincial company which was looking for a person to act the chief
parts in tragedy at their theatres in Newcastle and Sunderland. Great
secrecy was to be observed and Helen Taylor not only assumed the
name of 'Miss Trevor', under which alone she was known during the
eighteen months or two years of her stage career, but all possible pre-
cautions were taken to prevent the reason for her absence from home
becoming known or her correspondence with her mother giving any
clue to her identity. Towards the end of November her brother Haji

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1857

accompanied her to Newcastle and from her mother's first letter we
gain some idea of the long struggle which must have preceded this
decision.

H. M. to Helen Taylor, 24 November 18 56 :2 I wish you to be
wholly uninfluenced by me in all your future proceedings.
I would rather die than go through again your reproaches for
spoiling your life. Whatever happens let your mode of life be
your own free choice henceforth.

Helen Taylor's stage career, which we can follow closely in a long
series of letters exchanged almost daily between mother and daughter,3
is outside the scope of this book. It was from the beginning full of
disappointments and one may well doubt whether the predominantly
intellectual young woman was really suited for the stage. The letters
are of course mainly concerned with Helen Taylor's practical pro-
blems, Mrs. Mill entering into the minutest details of her dresses, etc.
But they also throw a good deal of light on the relation between the
two hitherto inseparable women. They do not seem to have been
entirely easy. Both highly strung and hyper-sensitive, the letters altern-
ate between the most effusive professions of affection and a plaintive
tone of misunderstood intentions, the mother in particular constantly
feeling hurt by the apparent coolness of the daughter, who vacillates
between assertion of her new independence and complete reliance on
her mother's guidance.

After a joint Christmas holiday at Brighton Helen Taylor again
went north to another theatre at Doncaster and later to Glasgow
where her mother went to pay her a long deferred visit in February.
Mill, who for a little while had again suffered from trouble with head
and his eyesight, was on that account able to take a few days off and
to accompany Mrs. Mill as far as Edinburgh. From the eight existing
letters4 which Mill wrote to his wife during the fortnight's absence
only a few passages need be quoted.

J. S. M. to H. M., 17 February 1857 •'5 I* was tne strangest
feeling yesterday & this morning to be here & at the same
time fresh from all those places. I have hardly anything
running in my mind's eye but innumerable large railway
stations. On Saturday night at York I slept little & dreamt
much — among the rest a long dream of some speculation on

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1857 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

animal nature, ending with my either reading or writing, just
before I awoke, this Richterish sentence: 'With what pro-
spect then, until a cow is fed on broth, we can expect the
truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth to be unfolded
concerning this part of nature, I leave to' &c. &c. I had a
still droller dream the same night. I was seated at a table like
a table d'hote, with a woman at my left hand & a young man
opposite — the young man said, quoting somebody for the
saying, 'there are two excellent & rare things to find in a
woman, a sincere friend & a sincere Magdalen'. I answered
'the best would be to find both in one' — on which the woman
said 'no, that would be too vain' — whereupon I broke out
'do you suppose when one speaks of what is good in itself,
one must be thinking of one's own paltry self interest? no, I
spoke of what is abstractedly good & admirable' — how queer
to dream stupid mock mots, & of a kind totally unlike one's
own ways or character. According to the usual oddity of
dreams, when the man made the quotation I recognized it &
thought that he had quoted it wrong & that the right words
were 'an innocent magdalen' not perceiving the contradiction.
I wonder if reading that Frenchman's book suggested the
dream. These are ridiculous things to put in a letter, but
perhaps they may amuse my darling.

In the following letters there are some references to his working on
a revision of the Political Economy for the fourth edition.

J. S. M. to H. M., ig February 1857 :6 I Pass tne evening
always at the Pol. Economy, with now & then a little playing
to rest my eyes & mind. There will be no great quantity to
alter, but now & then a little thing is of importance. One
page I keep for consideration when I can show it to you. It
is about the qualities of English workpeople, & of the Eng-
lish generally. It is not at all as I would write it now, but I do
not, in reality, know how to write it.7

After about ten days in Glasgow Mrs. Mill fell seriously ill, prob-
ably with another haemorrhage from the lungs.

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1857

J. S. M. to H. M., 24 February 1857 * It was less of a shock
the first moment than I should have thought it would have
been — no doubt because the same letter said you were better
& because the sight of your beloved handwriting gave me
confidence — but I have been growing more anxious every
hour since. Thank Heavens however we know by experience
that this is not necessarily dangerous — though a warning of
the danger there always is. It must have been much less bad
than the former time, or you could not have written immedi-
ately. But it would be very imprudent to attempt travelling
for I do not know how many days, & then it can only be by
very short journeys. L[ily]'s being ill at the same time is an
additional misfortune. But why should I not come. I am
ready to come any day & stay any time — & I do not see
that you being there is inconvenable — you are really on a
visit, & it is nobody's concern to whom. You will judge best
of everything & either you or L. will let me know. — but all
my wish is to be with you & to be doing my little little to
help. The blessing & comfort it was & is to me to have been
with you on that former occasion no words will ever express.

In another letter on the following day, addressed to Edinburgh
where Mrs. Mill seems to have moved either just before or after she
fell ill, her return is further discussed, but on the evening of the next,
Mill, evidently on the receipt of worse news, rushes north to join her.

Mill, who in the preceding year had become head of the Examiner's
Department at India House and was thus in charge of all the political
relations of the Company during this year of the Indian Mutiny,
must have been exceedingly busy and during the spring his wife has
to go alone to Brighton to recuperate. Even their annual holiday is
delayed until September. There are a few letters9 written while they
separated for four days in order that Mill should get some walking in
the Lake District while Mrs. Mill and her daughter not very success-
fully tried their luck on the Lancashire coast.

H. M. to J. S. M., Blackpool, 16 September 1857 :10 Dearest
love/We got on well to Fleetwood (luggage & all) but it is a
strange place, or rather a place meant to be but not built. It is

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1857 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

like a beginning of Hearn Bay — roads planned but no houses
— only a great staring Inn called Euston Hotel adding to the
deserted look of the place — no lodgings fit to go to — so this
morning we have driven over here (nine miles) & I write
while we wait a few minutes which will account for a hurried
note. This place is as they call it a little Brighton — a poor
copy thereof except in the crowds of people so that it re-
minds me of your account of Southend. It is therefore not
tempting at all, & as Lily has a great inclination to go to
Lemington 1 decide to do so & to go on to-day. I shall order
your letter to be sent on from Fleetwood but hope you will
write to Post Office, Lemington as soon as you get this, that
I may soon know where to direct to you dear.

I am so pleased at its being such a lovely day for Helvellyn
that it makes me quite in spirits, my heart is with you all the
time so do dearest enjoy the climbing and take good care
not to slip.

I will write again tomorrow Adieu now

in haste ever yrs

H. M.

J. S. M. to H. M.: Salutation, Ambleside,/September 13
[i857]/Dearest — I have been very fortunate in having a
most beautiful day for Hellvellyn. I ascended it from Patter-
dale having gone there by an early coach from here, & I
returned here in the same way in the evening, walking up
the pass so you see I was not tired. The view, though there
were a few clouds, was splendid. It was a disappointment as
to plants, as on those sunny heights everything was still more
gone by than in the valleys — of all the rare plants which
grow there I could only distinguish two, and those were
only in leaf. But the day before I was unexpectedly successful
in plants between Windermere & this place. I made a circuit
& saw Mr. Crossfield's cottages which I will describe to you
when I have the happiness of being with you again ; they are
not what we want; besides other objections they are in a real

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1857

village or rather hamlet. I have planned a very nice round
for today, and shall go to Broughton tomorrow down the
Duddon, and to Lancaster, & I hope to Settle on Tuesday.
I talked yesterday with people from Fleetwood & others
from Blackpool & I am afraid they are but ugly places — I
so hope you have not inflicted purgatory on yourself to give
me this walk — I feel however that it will do me great good.
Today the sky is gloomy — but not very threatening. Yester-
day everything looked its very best. I shall write again as
soon as I receive yours.

adieu my own wife from your

J. S. M.

For the second part of his walking tour Mill chose Settle in York-
shire as his base and the remaining three letters are dated from there.

J. SrM. to H. M., Settle^ 16 September 18 $j: This place is
a prettier country town than any in the lakes & the country
about looks very pretty though the mountains have not the
fine forms & beautiful arrangements of the Lakes. Please
darling continue to write here, as I find it is the best centre
for all I want to see — within a day's walk of everything.
I have time to explore Craven between this & Sunday & I
shall certainly go to Manchester on Monday & to darling
on Tuesday. I saw the last Times yesterday at Lancaster. The
Indian news seems to me more bad than good, but not, I
think, of any bad omen. I saw in a Liverpool paper an
announcement from a French paper of the death of Comte.
It seems as if there would be no thinkers left in the world.

J. S. M. to H. M.: Settle/Saty morng [September 19,
1 8573/I have just got your darling letter you angel which
would make me set off directly to rejoin you if I did not
know that you would much rather I did not on account of
the good this excursion does me. I too was feeling very sad
all yesterday but for an opposite reason (partly) to yours,
namely perfect beauty. It was the first splendid day since I
have been here, & I was all day wandering over the edge of

j.s.m. 257 s

1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

the hills having such a sun & sky as made the views both
near & distant perfectly beautiful & I think that always
makes one melancholy, at least when one is alone, which to
me means not with you. I am now going to climb Ingle-
borough & see the caves, at least the principle of them, for
there are multitudes all about here. I fancied Leamington
would be pleasant because it has a civilized air, though very
ugly — the frequented parts of the N. of E. are generally
hideous as to the human part of them, but this Settle is a
nice quiet, really pretty, very little country place, not touri-
fied, the people of the place are civil & the few strangers one
sees in the coffee room are really gentlemanly. I shall enquire
at the Post Office at Manchester my own love. I will certainly
look particularly at the pictures my darling liked.

adieu till Tuesday evening, and blessings from her own

J.S. M.

During the winter 1857/8 the pressure of work caused by develop-
ments in India kept the Mills in London although the state of their
health would have made it advisable that they winter abroad.11 In July
1 858 we can follow Mill once more on one of his walking tours while
Mrs. Mill remained at Blackheath Park. He spent a week of strenuous
walking in the Peak District of Derbyshire, but neither any of his
four letters to his wife nor her two letters to him12 are of any special
interest. One letter by each may serve as specimens.

H. M. to J. S. M., Blackheath, 12 July 1858: Monday
Eveng/I was quite in spirits all yesterday because you had
such a nice day for the journey dearest. This morning I got
your account of your day13 which shows that all went well.
It is pleasant to hear that Matlock turned out better than we
expected. To-day has been very hot, tho' without bright sun
& looks this evening as tho' there would be rain in the night,
& already one has begun to wish for more rain the air is so
close & sultry. Among the hills no doubt you will not find
it too hot. I am so pleased it is fine. As the people at the Inn
are disagreeable you must leave it — I hope you have already,

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1858

for it would much lessen the good walking may do if you are
uncomfortable in the house. The Times has not yet come,
but I have the Telegraph — I need not tell you things in it
which will be in the Times, as you will see that — but it has
a very long account of Bulwers wife14 being seized & sent
to a madhouse, which seems a most nefarious affair. It ought
to lead to Bulwer being turned out of the ministry — I hope
it will, such an incarnation of vanity & dishonesty as the man
is — he could not face the ridicule of his wife talking against
him on the hustings. But it is a disgrace to the law that any
body can be made prisoner & carried off on the certificate of
two medical men !

If the expedition proves pleasanter than you expected, &
seems to be doing you good, I do hope you will stay into the
next week. It will be excessively painful to me if you come
back sooner than you need, on account of what I said — or
on any account. Adieu dearest if this shd get lost it certainly
will be no prize to the finder !

J. S. M. to H. M., 15 July 1858: Bakewell/Thursday evg./
My darling! I received her most precious letter yesterday
morning and the pleasure it gave me was almost worth the
absence. As to prolonging my stay, what she so kindly &
sweetly writes would induce me to do it, if it were not that
this excursion has not quite fulfilled our expectations or
rather hopes in the matter of health. I have found no
deficiency of strength, but have never been without a dry
furred tongue, & never many hours without other decided
sensations of indigestion, & this in spite of the greatest care,
& observance of your advice in every particular. An excur-
sion of this sort is excellent to strengthen me against indiges-
tion, but it does not perhaps tend so much to cure it when
it exists. Perhaps the regularity of home may do better. I
dare say however I shall be better for this afterwards as has
so often been the case. As I shall therefore see her on Sunday
morning & she will not get this till Saturday, I will keep all

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1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

description for a nice talk & will only say that, contrary to
my expectation, the place which seems most suitable for us
to make any stay at is Buxton which I walked to yesterday,
returning on the top of the omnibus. On consideration, I
thought that Dovetale had not the etoffe of a place for more
than a day, so I was driven there in a phaeton this morning
from here — the place was not a disappointment but was soon
seen & I have just come in from an eleven miles walk since
I came back. Tomorrow morning I shall go to Castleton &
shall have the greater part of tomorrow & the greater part of
Saturday to spend there as I shall go from thence to Sheffield,
no great distance, & return by a night train from there,
arriving in town about five on Sunday morning when I will
rest a little & breakfast & then come home to my darling.
The weather has been excellent — the last two afternoons
there has been a little rain not enough to do any harm, &
tonight there has been a little since dusk, with some lighten-
ing. I found no plants on Tuesday or today, but yesterday
was a splendid day for them, as I found five, of which Jacob's
ladder was one.

Adieu with a thousand loves from your

J. S. M.

In the autumn of 1858 Mill was at last able to relinquish his post
at East India House, which, since his appointment as Examiner a little
more than two years before, had claimed more of his time than in
earlier years. He took advantage of the transfer of the East India
Company's functions to the Government to retire at the age of fifty-
two instead of at sixty as he should otherwise have been entitled, and
his thirty-five years of service were rewarded with a liberal pension of
£1,500 — more than his salary had been until the last promotion, when
it had been raised to £2,000. Although officially his connexion with
the Company came to an end only at Christmas, his wife's and his own
state of health urgently required that they should spend the winter
outside England. They left Blackheath Park for the South of France
on 1 1 October. Helen Taylor had been staying with them on a visit
from Aberdeen, probably in order to appear on that same evening in a

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1858

minor part, in a first performance of Wilkie Collins' 'The Red Vial'
in the Olympic (or perhaps only to see Mrs. Stirling act in it), and Mrs.
Mill's letters to her begin with a comment on the Times'^ review of the
play which still reached her at Folkestone. After another night in
Boulogne Mill and his wife reached Paris on the 14th to stay there for
two days. The plan was to go in easy stages to Montpellier, later to
move on to Hyeres, where Mrs. Mill had so well recovered four years
before, and to pass the following spring in Italy. But already at Dijon
Mrs. Mill's health proved unequal to the strain of the railway journey
and another two days' stop became necessary. Mill himself clearly was
not the best person to look after the invalid in the circumstances.

H. M. to Helen Taylor, Dijon, 18 October 1858 :15 The fact
is we always get the last seats in the railway carriage, as
I cannot run on quick, & if he goes on he never succeeds, I
always find him running up and down & looking lost in
astonishment, so I have given up trying to get any seats but
those that are left.

When on the following day they arrived in Lyons, Mrs. Mill had
a bad cold which rapidly developed into severe congestion of the lungs
with a high fever and great general weakness. On the 21st Mill has
for the first time to write to Helen Taylor in her place, but at her wish
still insisting that 'there was nothing to be uneasy about'. Two days
later she herself could report in a pencilled note that she had got up
and after a week's stay they were able to leave Lyons on the 26th 'in
great hope that I shall by degrees get over the attack'. But even the two
hours' journey to Valence and the somewhat longer journey to
Avignon on the next day proved too much for her strength. Although
on arrival there she still hoped that 'it is all over and I shall have more
cheerful letters to write', and to continue at once to Montpellier, this
was not to be and this letter of 27 October was to be her last. On the
following day Mill desperately wrote to the doctor in Nice who had
saved her life four years before.

J. S. M. to Dr. Gurney at Nice:16 Avignon, Oct. 28, 1858/
Dear Dr. Gurney/My wife is lying at the Hotel de l'Europe
here so very ill that neither she nor I have any hope but in
you to save her. It is a quite sudden attack which came on at

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1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

Lyons, of incessant coughing which prevents sleeping, and by
the exhaustion it produces has brought her to death's door. I
implore you to come immediately. I need hardly say that any
expense whatever will not count for a feather in the balance.
I am, dear Dr. Gurney

very truly yours

J. S. Mill

A day or two later Mill sent a hurried pencilled report to Helen
Taylor, then back in Aberdeen, which is in part very difficult to read.

J. S. M. to Helen Taylor, 29 or 30 October 1858 ;17 Dear
Lily Mama had had a tremendous attack of bronchitis with
congestion & fever much worse that at Lyons. We have
done everything possible & today for the first time she is a
little better. The cough has been unceasing & most painful
preventing her lying down day or night or getting any sleep
besides that the intense nervous irritation caused by the con-
gestion the fever & the fatigue made her almost out of her
mind. We have had the best physician here but his prescrip-
tions are too weak. She has taken a number of her own. On
Thursday she did not think she (?) shd recover. She thought
you would see by her letters from Lyons how ill she was but
she did not like to alarm you. Today she is certainly better.
The cough is less frequent & the head for the first time more
calm. We took every precaution on the road. She was carried
by the porters in a chair to the railway at Lyons & we had
a coupe to ourselves from Valence here but she says the
whole (?) incidents of such a journey are totally unfitted for
her. The excessive hardship of every part, the inability to
have anything fit for a delicate stomach to eat, the tremen-
dous noise everywhere, the coarse manner of the women, the
intense fatigue of waiting in the railway rooms for at least
half an hour & then the immense distance to go both to &
from them. This inn is thought one of the best in France &
we appear to have the best rooms yet bedrooms & sitting
room are of red tiles with thin carpet over, which she endeav-

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LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1858

oured to obviate the first day by using a footstool but in vain
— but [??] far more than all the evident fatal effect upon her
of the air of the S[outh] of F[rance]. She dragged herself up
to write to you a few words on Wedy, that you might not be
anxious, hoping it would prove as she said, but she felt ill as
she wrote & got gradually worse till at night she was very
ill. She does not wish you to come to her because she
thinks she has taken the turn to get better & therefore it
wd be a very great pity to break your good arrangements
which are a great pleasure to her to hear of. You shall know
continually how she is going on. We have got all your letters
from Monp[ellier] today here & continue to write here for it
will probably be weeks before we leave this place. All notice
of your letters must be at a future time.

She is anxious that you shd not think of coming to her.
She would (?) be extremely annoyed if you did and now she
says adieu dear girl in haste.

J. S. M.

Probably even before this letter reached her a cable18 informed
Helen Taylor on 1 November that her mother was worse, and though
she left Aberdeen on the following day neither she nor Dr. Gurney
reached Avignon in time. Mrs. Mill died in the Hotel de l'Europe on
3 November.

An extract from the letter to W. T. Thornton in whLh Mill gave
to friends in England the first intimation of the event was published
many years ago by A. Bain.

J. S. M. to W. T. Thornton, Avignon, Novsmber 1858 :x*
The hopes with which I commenced this journey have been
fatally frustrated. My Wife, the companion of all my feel-
ings, the prompter of all my best thoughts, the guide of all
my actions, is gone! She was taken ill at this place with a
violent attack of bronchitis and pulmonary congestion. The
medical men here could do nothing for her, and before the
physician at Nice, who had saved her life once before, could
arrive, all was over.

263

1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

It is doubtful if I shall ever be fit for anything, public or
private, again. The spring of my life is broken. But I shall
best fulfil her wishes by not giving up the attempt to do some-
thing useful. I am sure of your sympathy, but if you knew
what she was, you would feel how little any sympathy can do.

J. S. M. to the Mair of Avignon, 3 November 1858:™ Mon-
sieur le Maire,/Par vos fonctions officielles, vous avez eu
connaissance du malheureux evenement qui a cfee pour ma
famille avec la ville que vous administrezunlien indissoluble.
Nous croyons ne pouvoir rendre un meilleur hommage a
celle que nous avons perdu qu'en faisant autant que possible
les choses que, vivante, elle eut voulu faire; et comme elle
n'aurait pas pu venir s'etablir a Avignon sans que les mal-
herreux de cette ville en eussent profite, nous souhaitons que,
dans la triste circonstance ou nous nous trouvons, ils aient
encore a. la remercier de quelque chose. Veuillez, done,
monsieur le maire, accepter au profit de la Caisse des pauvres
le don de mille francs, somme proportionnee a nos facultes
plutot qu'a nos desires, et que nous vous prions de vouloir
bien inscrire au nom de ma bien-aimee epouse, Mme Hen-
riette Mill, nee Hardy, decedee a Avignon le 3 Novembre
1858.

Agreez J. Stuart Mill.

J. S. M. to Arthur Hardy, Blackheath, 5 December 1858 :21
My dear Sir/ Before receiving this you will already have
heard the terrible & most unexpected blow which has fallen
upon us. I have not felt equal to writing to you before & now
when I do, language is so utterly incapable of expressing
such a loss, or what that loss is to us, that it is sickening to
attempt it. But you will desire to know some of the sad
details. We left England on the 12th of October, intending
to pass the winter at Hyeres, where she had wintered before
or at some other place in the south of France. For the first
time we were able to do as we pleased as I had just retired
from the I.H. & we were looking forward to a happy half

264

LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1858

year or year in a mild climate. She was apparently in her
usual health, perhaps even better than usual, & as fit for
travelling as when she set out on other much longer journeys
by which her health had not suffered but benefitted. She
continued pretty well up to Lyons, but when there she had
a sharp feverish attack, which yielded to the usual remedies
but left a good deal of cough behind it. We staid there a
week, at the end of which she felt sufficiently recovered to
go slowly onward, but the day after we arrived at Avignon
she was again taken very ill- — she was better the next day,
but the improvement was not progressive and a great short-
ness of breathing came on. She had the best medical man
the place afforded but as usual with French physicians their
remedies were not sufficiently powerful & after a few days
becoming alarmed, though we never suspected immediate
danger, I wrote to Dr. Gurney of Nice who attended her in
a dangerous illness there in 1853, asking him to come over
to see her. He came instantly but found all at an end! The
very day before her last we thought her illness had taken a
favourable turn. From the symptoms Dr. Gurney thinks the
cause of death was excessive & [?] congestion of the lungs.
She is buried in the cemetery of the town of Avignon &
with her all our earthly happiness. We have henceforth no
interest in life but to fulfil her wishes in all we can, & to
return continually to her Grave. We have bought a small
house & garden near the cemetery, where we shall go early
in the spring & intend to pass much of our time there until
our turn comes for being buried along with her. Algernon
would have written to you if I had not, but I wished to write
myself [??] He & Helen are pretty well, though Helen at
one time broke down & had an attack of illness, but fortun-
ately it proved short. It is useless to write more. Believe me
yrs very truly

Even before Mill returned to England two or three weeks after his
wife's death, he had bought the small house within sight of the ceme-

265

1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

tery in the suburb of Saint- Veran of Avignon where his wife had been
buried and in which he was to spend the greater part of the rest of his
life. He then at once devoted himself to the publication of the work to
which they had given most of their energies during the preceding years,
which was to have received its final revision during the stay on the
Continent and now was to appear as it had been left on her death:
On Liberty was published in February 1859 with the moving dedica-
tion 'to the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer,
and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings'. At the same
time Mill made arrangements for the republication of a collection of
some of his review articles and remained in London until April to see
the first two volumes of Dissertations and Discussions through the press.
The pamphlet Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform^ written some years
earlier, and a long review article on related subjects also were brought
out at about the same time, and two other major articles, probably
written after he had gone with Helen Taylor to Avignon for their first
long stay, appeared later in the same year. Evidently Mill tried to bury
himself in intensive work.

At Avignon a monument of the finest Carrara marble was erected
at great expense over the grave of his wife, bearing the inscription22
given on opposite page.

With this our account might well close. It cannot be the task of
this study to inquire how far Mrs. Mill's ideas continued to guide her
husband's work after her death. I believe that a careful study of his
later development would show that in some degree he withdrew a little
from the more advanced positions which he had taken under her
influence and returned to views closer to those he had held in his youth.
But this is an impression for which it would be impossible to give here
the evidence. There is, however, one other circumstance which is of
some significance for our appreciation of Mill's appraisal of his wife
and which, since it is not clearly seen in the more widely read editions
of the Autobiography^ should be briefly mentioned here. After Mrs.
Mill's death her daughter Helen Taylor became Mill's constant com-
panion and devoted assistant. It had been known that he came to hold
his stepdaughter in very high esteem and that he had devoted to her
praise some passages in the Autobiography which, on Alexander Bain's
urgent advice, Helen Taylor had omitted in the version published
immediately after Mill's death.23 How great Mill's admiration for her
had grown24 became apparent however only when the suppressed pass-

266

LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL 1858

TO THE BELOVED MEMORY
OF

HARRIET MILL

THE DEARLY BELOVED AND DEEPLY REGRETTED
WIFE OF JOHN STUART MILL

HER GREAT AND LOVING HEART

HER NOBLE SOUL

HER CLEAR POWERFUL ORIGINAL AND

COMPREHENSIVE INTELLECT

MADE HER THE GUIDE AND SUPPORT

THE INSTRUCTOR IN WISDOM

AND THE EXAMPLE IN GOODNESS

AS SHE WAS THE SOLE EARTHLY DELIGHT

OF THOSE WHO HAD THE HAPPINESS TO BELONG TO HER

AS EARNEST FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD

AS SHE WAS GENEROUS AND DEVOTED

TO ALL WHO SURROUNDED HER

HER INFLUENCE HAS BEEN FELT

IN MANY OF THE GREATEST

IMPROVEMENTS OF THE AGE

AND WILL BE IN THOSE STILL TO COME

WERE THERE BUT A FEW HEARTS AND INTELLECTS

LIKE HERS

THIS EARTH WOULD ALREADY BECOME

THE HOPED-FOR HEAVEN

SHE DIED

TO THE IRREPARABLE LOSS OF THOSE WHO SURVIVE HER

AT AVIGNON

NOV. 3 1858

267

1858 LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF MRS. MILL

ages were restored from the manuscript in a recent complete edition
of the Autobiography. ,25 The most characteristic of these passages in
which Helen Taylor is placed on the same pedestal with his wife will
form a fitting conclusion.

'Though the inspirer of my best thoughts was no longer with me,
I was not alone: she had left a daughter, my stepdaughter, Miss Helen
Taylor, the inheritor of much of her wisdom, and of all her nobleness
of character, whose ever growing and ripening talents from that day
to this have been devoted to the same great purposes, and have already
made better and more widely known than was that of her mother,
though far less so than I predict, that if she lives it is destined to become.
Of the value of her direct co-operation with me, something will be
said hereafter, of what I owe in the way of instruction to her great
powers of original thought and soundness of practical judgement, it
would be vain to give an adequate idea. Surely no one ever before was
so fortunate, as, after such a loss as mine, to draw another prize in the
lottery of life — another companion, stimulator, adviser, and instructor
of the rarest quality. Whoever, either now or hereafter, may think of
me and of the work I have done, must never forget that it is the pro-
duct not of one intellect and conscience but of three, the least consider-
able of whom, and above all the least original, is the one whose name
is attached to it.'

268

APPENDICES

Appendix I

POEMS
BY HARRIET TAYLOR

Written at Daybreaks

hushed are all sounds, the sons of toil and pain,
The poor and wealthy are all one again;
Sleep closes o'er the high and lowly head,
And makes the living fellows with the dead.
The clouds of night roll sullenly away,
Humbly obedient to th'approach of day;
The fragrant flowers unfold their scented heads,
The birds with gladness leave their leafy beds —
But unperceived at first the orb of day,
Sending alone a faint and trembling ray;
The glowing east, streaming with floods of gold
The fleeing clouds a thousand hues unfold.
At last he comes majestically slow
Pouring bright radiance on the world below,
And springing upwards from th' embrace of night
Gilding the heavn's with beams of orient light —
O beauteous hour to minds of feeling giv'n
Filling the heart with thoughts and hopes of heav'n.
Lofty and noble purposes arise
And give the soul communion with the skies;
To Nature's God our highest hopes ascend
271

POEMS BY HARRIET TAYLOR

The bounding heart paints joys which cannot end-
Oh, if to mortals it could e'er be given,
To chuse the path the spirit takes to Heav'n
Guided by him, from whom my doating heart
Not opening heav'n itself could tempt to part,
Mind would ascend, on such a morn as this
On wings of glorious light to realms of bliss
And he whose love illumes this world of care
Should dwell with me in all the transports there.

272

II
To the Summer Wind*

whence comst thou, sweet wind?
Didst take thy phantom form
'Mid the depth of forest trees?

Or spring, new born,

Of the fragrant morn,
'Mong the far-off Indian seas?

Where speedest thou, sweet wind?

Thou little heedest, I trow —

Dost thou sigh for some glancing star?

Or cool brow

Of the dying now,
As they pass to their home afar?

What mission is thine, O wind?
Say for what thou yearnest —
That, like the wayward mind,

Earth thou spurnest,

Heaven-ward turnest,
And rest canst nowhere find !

J.S.M. 273

Ill

Nature*

manifold cords, invisible or seen

Present or past, or only hoped for, bind

All to our mother earth. — No step-dame she,

Coz'ning with forced fondness, but a fount,

Rightly pursued, of never-failing love. —

True, that too oft' we lose ourselves 'mong thorns

That tear and wound. But why impatient haste

From the smooth path our fairest mother drew?

'Tis man, not nature, works the general ill,

By folly piled on folly, till the heap

Hides every natural feeling, save alone

Grey Discontent, upraised to ominous height,

And keeping drowsy watch o'er buried wishes.

274

Appendix II

AN EARLY ESSAY
BY HARRIET TAYLOR4

ore than two hundred years ago, Cecil said 'Tenderness &
sympathy are not enough cultivated by any of us; no one is
.kind enough, gentle enough, forbearing and forgiving
enough'. In this two centuries in how many ways have we advanced
and improved, yet could the speaker of those words now 'revisit the
glimpses of the moon', he would find us but at the point he left us on
the ground of toleration: his lovely lament is to the full as applicable
now, as it was in the days of the hard-visaged and cold-blooded Puri-
tans. Our faults of uncharitableness have rather changed their objects
than their degree. The root of all intolerance, the spirit of conformity,
remains; and not until that is destroyed, will envy hatred and all
uncharitableness, with their attendant hypocrisies, be destroyed too.
Whether it would be religious conformity, Political conformity, moral
conformity or Social conformity, no matter which the species, the
spirit is the same: all kinds agree in this one point, of hostility to
individual character, and individual character if it exists at all, can
rarely declare itself openly while there is, on all topics of importance a
standard of conformity raised by the indolent minded many and guarded
by a [?] of opinion which, though composed individually of the weakest
twigs, yet makes up collectively a mass which is not to be resisted with
impunity.

What is called the opinion of Society is a phantom power, yet as is
often the case with phantoms, of more force over the minds of the
unthinking than all the flesh and blood arguments which can be
brought to bear against it. It is a combination of the many weak,

275

AN EARLY ESSAY BY HARRIET TAYLOR

against the few strong; an association of the mentally listless to punish
any manifestation of mental independance. The remedy is, to make all
strong enough to stand alone; and whoever has once known the
pleasure of self-dependance, will be in no danger of relapsing into sub-
serviency. Let people once suspect that their leader is a phantom, the
next step will be, to cease to be led, altogether and each mind guide
itself by the light of as much knowledge as it can acquire for itself by
means of unbiased experience.

We have always been an aristocracy-ridden people, which may
account for the fact of our being so peculiarly a propriety-ridden people.
The aim of our life seems to be, not our own happiness, nor the happi-
ness of others unless it happens to come in as an accident of our great
endeavour to attain some standard of right or duty erected by some or
other of the sets into which society is divided like a net — to catch
gudgeons.

Who are the people who talk most about doing their duty? always
those who for their life could give no intelligible theory of duty? What
are called people of principle, are often the most unprincipled people
in the world, if by principle is intended the only useful meaning of the
word, accordance of the individual's conduct with the individual's
self-formed opinion. Grant this to be the definition of principle, then
eccentricity should be prima facie evidence for the existence of
principle. So far from this being the case, 'it is odd' therefore it is
wrong is the feeling of society; while they whom it distinguishes par
excellence as people of principle, are almost invariably the slaves of
some dicta or other. They have been taught to think, and accustomed
to think, so and so right — others think so and so right — therefore it
must be right. This is the logic of the world's good sort of people; and
if, as is often the case their right should prove indisputably wrong, they
can but plead those good intentions which make a most slippery and
uneven pavement.

To all such we would say, think for yourself, and act for yourself,
but whether you have strength to do either the one or the other,
attempt not to impede, much less to resent the genuine expression of
the others.

Were the spirit of toleration abroad, the name of toleration would
be unknown. The name implies the existence of its opposites. Tolera-
tion can not even rank with those strangely named qualities a 'negative
virtue'; while we can be conscious that we tolerate there must remain

276

AN EARLY ESSAY BY HARRIET TAYLOR

some vestige of intolerance — not being virtuous it is possible also not to
be vicious: not so in this — not to be charitable is to be uncharitable.
To tolerate is to abstain from unjust interference, a quality which will
surely one day not need a place in any catalogue of virtues. Now, alas,
its spirit is not even comprehended by many, 'The quality of mercy is
strained', and by the education for its opposite which most of us receive
becomes if ever it be attained, a praiseworthy faculty, instead of an
unconscious and almost intuitive state.

'Evil-speaking, lying and slandering' as the catechism formulary has
it, is accounted a bad thing by every one. Yet how many do not hesitate
about the evil-speaking as long as they avoid the lying and slandering
— making what they call Truth a mantle to cover a multitude of
injuries. 'Truth must not be spoken at all times' is the vulgar maxim.
We would have the Truth, and if possible all the Truth, certainly
nothing but the Truth said and acted universally. But we would never
lose sight of the important fact that what is truth to one mind is often
not truth to another. That no human being ever did or ever will
comprehend the whole mind of any other human being. It would
perhaps not be possible to find two minds accustomed to think for
themselves whose thoughts on any identical subject should take in
their expression the same form of words. Who shall say that the very
same order of ideas is conveyed to another mind, by those words which
to him perfectly represent his thought? It is probable that innumerable
shades of variety, modify in each instance, the conception of every
expression of thought; for which variety the imperfections of language
offer no measure, and the differences of organization no proof. To an
honest mind what a lesson of tolerance is included in this knowledge.
To such not a living heart and brain but is like the planet 'whose
worth's unknown although his height be taken, and feeling that one
touch of nature makes the whole world kin' finds something that is
admirable in all, and something to interest and respect in each. In this
view we comprehend that

All thoughts , all creeds, all dreams are true,
All visions wild and strange —

to those who believe them, for after all we must come to that fine
saying of the poet-philosopher,

Man is the measure of all Truth
Unto himself

277

AN EARLY ESSAY BY HARRIET TAYLOR

of the same signification is that thought, as moral as profound, which
has been often in different ways expressed, yet which the universal
practice of the world disproves its comprehension of, 'Toute la mora-
lite de nos actions est dans le jugement que nous en portons nous-
meme' — 'dangerous' may exclaim the blind followers of that sort of
conscience, which is the very opposite of consciousness; would but
people give up that sort of conscience which depends on conforming
they would find the judgement of an enlightened consciousness proved
by its results the voice of God:

Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still

and to make them pleasant companions we must get rid, not only of
error, but of the moral sources from which it springs. As the study of
the mind of others is the only way in which effectually to improve our
own, the endeavour to approximate as nearly as possible towards a
complete knowledge of, and sympathy with another mind, is the spring
and the food of all fineness of heart and mind. There seems to be this
great distinction between physical and moral science: that while the
degree of perfection which the first has attained is marked by the pro-
gressive completeness and exactness of its rules, that of the latter is in
the state most favourable to, and most showing healthfulness as it
advances beyond all classification except on the widest and most
universal principles. The science of morals should rather be called an
art: to do something towards its improvement is in the power of every
one, for every one may at least show truly their own page in the
volume of human history, and be willing to allow that no two pages of
it are alike.

Were everyone to seek only the beauty and the good which might
be found in every object, and to pass by defect lightly where it could
not but be evident — if evil would not cease to exist, it would surely be
greatly mitigated, for half the power of outward ill may be destroyed
by inward strength, and half the beauty of outward objects is shown
by the light within. The admiring state of mind is like a refracting
surface which while it receives the rays of light, and is illuminated by
them gives back an added splendour; the critical state is the impassive
medium which cannot help [ J5 the sun's beams, but can

neither transmit nor increase them. It is indeed much easier to discern
the errors and blemishes of things than their good, for the same reason

278

AN EARLY ESSAY BY HARRIET TAYLOR

that we observe more quickly privation than enjoyment. Suffering is
the exception to the extensive rule of good, and so stands out distinctly
and vividly. It should be remembered by the critically-minded, that the
habit of noting deficiencies before we observe beauties, does really for
themselves lessen the amount of the latter.

Whoever notes a fault in the right spirit will surely find some beauty
too. He who appreciates the one is the fittest judge of the other also.
The capability of even serious error, proves the capacity for proportion-
ate good. For if anything may be called a principle of nature this seems
to be one, that force of any kind has an intuitive tendency towards
good.

We believe that a child of good physical organization who were
never to hear of evil, would not know from its own nature that evil
existed in the mental or moral world. We would place before the
minds of children no examples but of good and beautiful, and our
strongest effort should be, to prevent individual emulation. The spirit
of Emulation in childhood and of competition in manhood are the
fruitful sources of selfishness and misery. They are a part of the con-
formity plan, making each persons idea of goodness and happiness a
thing of comparison with some received mode of being good and
happy. But this is not the Creed of Society, for Society abhors individual
character. It asks the sacrifice of body heart and mind. This is the
summary of its cardinal virtues: would that such virtues were as nearly
extinct as the dignitaries who are their namesakes.

At this present time the subject of social morals is in a state of most
lamentable neglect. It is a subject so deeply interesting to all, yet so
beset by prejudice, that the mere approach to it is difficult, if not
dangerous. Yet there are 'thunders heard afar' by quick senses, and we
firmly believe that many years will not pass before the clearest intellects
of the time will expound, and the multitude have wisdom to receive
reverently the exposition of the great moral paradoxes with which
Society is hemmed in on all sides. Meanwhile they do something who
in ever so small a circle or in ever so humble a guise, have courage to
declare the evil they see.

279

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282

Notes

INTRODUCTION

1 Autobiography, pp. 149 and 174.

2 Autobiography, pp. 158-9.

3 D.D., vol II, p. 411.

4 On receipt of the news of Mrs. Mill's death Fox wrote to Mrs. P. A.
Taylor (16 November 1858): 'Mrs. Mill gone! so lovely once! so superb ever!'
and on the next day he wrote to his daughter: 'Mrs. Mill died on the 3rd at
Avignon. She would not have objected to being buried there, in the ground
which Petrarch has given a wide- world fame; and of which it might (if she
remains) be said, "A greater than Laura is here" ' (Richard Garnett, The Life
of W. J. Fox (1910), p. 99).

5 E. C. Stanton, S. B. Anthony and J. A. Gage, History of Woman Suffrage
(New York, 1889), vol. I. p. 219-20.

6 Knut Hagberg, Personalities and Powers (London, 1930), p. 196.

7 See the Diary kept by Mary Taylor from 20 February 1904 to 4 July
1906 in MTColl. LVIII/B and Jules Veran, 'Le Souvenir de Stuart Mill a
Avignon', Revue des Deux Mondes, September 1937.

8 See the letter of H. S. R. Elliot to Lord Courtney, dated 8 May 19 10,
in MTColl. HI/69.

9 See the letter by Messrs. A. P. Watt & Son to Mary Taylor, dated
30 January 191 8, in MTColl. XXIX/3i5,in which it is estimated that the
proposed volume would run to 272 printed pages. This probably included the
extensive correspondence between Mrs. Mill and Helen Taylor now among
the MTColl. but not reproduced in the present volume. That typed copies of
most of these letters must have existed appears from word 'typed' on many of
the envelopes in which they had been kept.

CHAPTER I. HARRIET TAYLOR AND HER CIRCLE

1 In the Autobiography (p. 1 56) Mill himself gives 1830 as the year when
they became acquainted and adds that he was then in his twenty-fifth and she
in her twenty-third year, which, taken literally, would fix the date between
May and October of that year. That it was 1830 (and not 1831 as Bain says)

283

NOTES

is confirmed by a letter of Mrs. Mill of 14 February 1854, quoted on
p. 196.

2 Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. xi. For further information and the Hardy,
Taylor and Mill families see the genealogical tables in Appendix III.

3 Autobiography, p. 1 56.

4 Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences (ed. Norton), vol. I, p. no.
5MTColl.XXIX/328.

6 MTColl. XXVIII/143, 144.

7 Quoted by Richard Garnett, The Life of W. J. Fox (London, 1910),
p. 98, from the manuscript recollections of Mrs. E. F. Bridell Fox, the
original of which does not seem to have been preserved. The reference to her
children idolizing Mrs. Taylor also suggests a later date than 1831 when the
youngest would only just have been born and the two boys have been very
small.

8 MTColl., Box HI/79, reprinted below in chapter III. Compare also a
similar passage, ibid., 'jj. There is also, ibid., Box III/i 13, a draft of part of a
review of The Life of William Caxton by W. Stevenson which appeared in
1833 as no. 31 of 'The Library of Useful Knowledge'. This draft is partly in
her and partly in John Taylor's hand.

9 Autobiography, p. 157. That this passage refers to Eliza Flower is con-
firmed by a pencil note of Helen Taylor on the original manuscript of the
Autobiography, reproduced in the Columbia University Press edition of 1926,
p. 130.

10 MTColl. XXXII/i 0-39.

11 Richard Garnett, The Life of W. J. Fox (19 10), p. 66. It seems that
unfortunately all the papers of W. J. Fox, collected for his biography by
his daughter Mrs. Bridell Fox and including a biographical sketch by her,
have been destroyed during the last war excepting only the collection of
letters by Mill to Fox which were acquired by Lord Keynes and are now in
the Library of King's College, Cambridge, and an autobiographical sketch by
Fox himself which is now in Conway Hall, London.

12 Mill reviewed the Producing Man's Companion both in the Monthly
Repository (vol. VII, April 1833) and in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine (June

1833)- '

13 First published in the Monthly Repository (July 1837).

14 See Francis E. Mineka, The Dissidence of Dissent, the Monthly Reposi-
tory, 1806-38 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1944).

15 Moncure D. Conway, Centenary History of the South Place Society
(London, Williams & Norgate, 1894), p. 89.

16 J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, The First Forty Tears (1882 edition),
vol. II, p. 190.

17 C. G. Duffy, Conversations with Carlyle (London, 1892), p. 167. A

284

NOTES

somewhat earlier description of Mill given in the Autobiography of Henry
Taylor, l8oo-y5 (London, 1885), vol. I, p. 79, referring to the years 1 824-7:
'He was pure-hearted — I was going to say conscientious — but at that time he
seemed so naturally and necessarily good, and so inflexible, that one hardly
thought of him as having occasion for a conscience, or as a man with whom
any question could arise for reference to that tribunal. But his absorption in
abstract operations of the intellect, his latent ardours, and his absolute sim-
plicity of heart, were hardly, perhaps, compatible with knowledge of men and
women, and with wisdom in living his life. His manners were plain, neither
graceful nor awkward; his features refined and regular; the eyes small rela-
tively to the scale of the face, the jaw large, the nose straight and finely shaped,
the lips thin and compressed, and the forehead and head capacious; and both
face and body seemed to represent outwardly the inflexibility of the inner
man. He shook hands with you from the shoulder. Though for the most part
painfully grave, he was as sensible as anybody for Charles Austin's or Charles
Villier's sallies of wit, and his strong and well-built body would heave for a
few moments with half uttered laughter. He took his share in conversation,
and talked ably and well of course but with such a scrupulous solicitude to
think exactly what he should and say exactiy what he thought, that he
spoke with an appearance of effort and as if with an impediment of the
mind.'

18 Caroline Fox, Memories of Old Friends (new enlarged edition in one
volume, 1883), p. 1 10. John Sterling in an unpublished letter to Mill of 1840
now in the Library of King's College, Cambridge, refers to this portrait as a
'medaillon'.

19 C. M. Cox, The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses (Genetic
Studies of Genius, ed. L. M. Terman, vol. II, Stanford University Press,
1926).

20 Autobiography, p. 26.

21 Life and Letters of John Arthur Roebuck: with Chapters of Autobiography
(ed. R. E. Leader, London, 1897), p. 28. Cf. Mill's own statement to Caro-
line Fox: 'I never was a boy, never played at cricket' (Memories of Old
Friends, p. 107).

22 A. W. Levi, 'The "Mental Crisis" of John Stuart Mill', The Psycho-
analytical Review, vol. XXXII (New York, 1945). Cf. p. 98: 'The real cause
(of the mental crisis) was those repressed death wishes against his father, the
vague and unarticulated guilt which he had in consequence, and the latent,
though still present dread that never now should he be free of his father's
domination.'

23 Ibid., pp. 92-3. Judging from this passage, which is almost the only one
that is available, this early draft of the Autobiography is likely to be of very
considerable importance in connexion with the subject of this book. Repeated

285

NOTES

applications to the Executors of the late Professor Hollander for permission to
examine the manuscript have, however, been unsuccesful.

24 H. Solly, These Eighty Years (1893), vol. I, p. 147.

25 H. Solly in The Workman' s Magazine (1873), p. 385.

26 Manuscript notes by A. S. West of a conversation with the Rev. J.
Crompton in the Library of King's College, Cambridge.

27 Mill, in a letter to be quoted later, indeed refers to George as being
twenty years his junior, but that may not have to be taken quite literally.
The exact dates of the births of most of the children of James Mill are un-
known, as they never seem to have been baptized and in consequence, in the
then state of affairs, their births never to have been registered.

28 A comment of one of his sisters on this has been preserved in a letter now
in the Library of King's College, Cambridge.

''Harriet I. Mill to the Rev. J. Crompton, 26 October 1873: My poor
mother's married life must have been a frightfully hard one, from first to last:
I hope and think that the eighteen following years, always excepting the
desertion of her eldest son, were years of satisfaction and enjoyment. Here was
an instance of two persons, a husband and wife, living as far apart under the
same roof, as the north pole from the south; from no "fault" of my poor
mother certainly; but how was a woman with a growing family and very small
means (as in the early years of the marriage) to be anything but a German
Hausfrau? how could she "intellectually" become a companion for such a
mind as my father? His great want was "temper", though I quite believe cir-
cumstances had made it what it was in our childhood, both because of the
warm affection of his early friends, and because in the latter years of his life he
became much softened and treated the younger children differently. What
would be thought now if the fate of our childhood were known? You will per-
haps be surprised to hear that that mention of teaching a younger sister Latin
is the sole allusion to any member of the family, except my father: that sister
must have been the eldest, Willie (Mrs. King). / have no recollection of John's
ever teaching me Latin — the only thing my father professed to teach us,
expecting us, however, to know everything else and abusing us for our ignor-
ance if we did not! I have no distinct recollection of John prior to his return
from France in 1821, when we were at Marlow for the summer and he at
once wrote out and pinned on the walls the way in which the hours of the day
were to be passed by the four of us, — my two elder sisters, myself and James.
Any regular teaching we had was from him, and he carried some of us very far
in mathematics and algebra. Indeed I have been told that he said I could have
taken the Senior Wrangler's degree at Cambridge.'

29 Autobiography, p. 205.

30 Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. 2.

31 Compare the entry in J. L. Mallet's diary under the date of 2 March

286

NOTES

1832 in Political Economy Club, Centenary Volume (London, 1921), p. 231,
and Henry Crabb Robinson's Diary (Typescript in Dr. Williams' Library,
vol. XIV) under the date of 27 March 1832.

CHAPTER II. ACQUAINTANCE AND EARLY CRISES

1 This account was given orally by Carlyle to Charles Eliot Norton in 1873
after the receipt of the news of Mill's death and is recorded verbatim in
Letters of Charles Eliot Norton (London, Constable & Co., 191 3), vol. I,
p. 496-7: 'A vera noble soul was John Mill, quite sure, beautiful to think of. I
never could find out what more than ordinary there was in the woman he
cared so much for; but there was absolute sincerity in his devotion to her. She
was the daughter of a flourishing London Unitarian tradesman, and her
husband was the son of another, and the two families made the match. Taylor
was a verra respectable man, but his wife found him dull; she had dark, black,
hard eyes, and an inquisitive nature, and was ponderin' on many questions
that worried her, and could get no answers to them, and that Unitarian clergy-
man you've heard of, William Fox by name, told her at last that there was a
young philosopher of very remarkable quality, whom he thought just the man
to deal with her case. And so Mill with great difficulty was brought to see her,
and that man, who up to that time, had never looked a female creature, not
even a cow, in the face, found himself opposite those great dark eyes, that were
flashing unutterable things, while he was discoursing the utterable concernin'
all sorts o' high topics.' A similar conversation with Carlyle is recorded by
C. G. Duffy, Conversations with Carlyle (1 892), p. 167.

2 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 164, and R. E. Leader, Life and Letters of J. A.
Roebuck (London, 1897), p. 38. John Arthur Roebuck (1801-79), barrister
and leading radical politician, had become a close friend of Mill on his arrival
from Canada in 1824. George John Graham (1801—88) probably had be-
come acquainted with Mill about the same time but in 1830 had only just
returned from five years' service as Military Secretary of Bombay. He became
Registrar-General of Births and Deaths in 1838.

3 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 164, and Gordon S. Haight, George Eliot and
John Chapman (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1940), p. 213.

4 Autobiography, p. 156.

5MTColl. XXVII/32. The date is taken from the postmark on what
appears to be the continuation of this letter, ibid., XXVII/37.

6 That by that time Mill was already well known to Eliza Flower may be
concluded from his first but not last friendly puff he gave some of her hymns
in the Examiner of next month. 'Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels
. . .' by Eliza Flower, in the Examiner, 3 July 1831, pp. 420-1. Similar notes

287

NOTES

by Mill on songs by Miss Flower appeared in the Examiner for 8 April 1832
and 17 February 1833. See MacMinn, Bibliography, pp. 17, 20 and 25.

7 F. E. Mineka, The Dissidence of Dissent (Chapel Hill, 1944), p. 405.

8MTColl.L/3.

9MTColl.XXIX/2 57.

10 The following invitation which has also been preserved (MTColl.
II/300) somewhat confirms the impression that these documents belong to
January 183 1, when Monsieur Bontemps is known to have been in London:
'Mr. and Mrs. Taylor request the pleasure of Mr. Mill's company at dinner
on Tuesday next at 5 o'clock when they expect to see Mr. Fox and some
friends of M. Desainteville/Finsbury Square/Jan. 28th.'

11 See Mill's Diary of this walking tour in Mount Holyoke College, South
Hadley, Mass.

12 MTColl. IX/16.

13 Yale University Library, postmarked I September 1832.

14 Jules Bastide, French publicist (1800—79), had been condemned to
death because of the part he had taken in the street disturbances which had
taken place in Paris on 5 June 1 832, on the occasion of the funeral of General
Lamarque. He returned to Paris in 1834. Hippolyte Dussard, French econo-
mist (1798— 1876). Mill had almost certainly made the acquaintance of the
two men on his visit to Paris two years earlier.

15 Major Revell was apparently one of the officers of the 'National Political
Union' founded in October 1 83 1 to assist in the agitation for the Reform Bill.

16 Page torn.

17 MTColl. XXVII/4. This note can be approximately dated from the
fact that Mill left for Cornwall (where he spent the second part of his vacation)
on Thursday, 20 September, and that according to the Gentlemen's Magazine
for September 1832, (p. 283) 'Francis Edward Crawley esq. of Dorset Place'
died on 5 September, aged twenty-nine. This was probably the same Crawley
who in July 1828 with Horace Grant and Edwin Chad wick had accom-
panied Mill on his walking tour in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey
(see the Diary of this walking tour in Yale University Library; and the Diary
of tour to Cornwall in MTColl.).

18 The identification of the articles in the Monthly Repository are taken
from the manuscript key in the set of this journal which originally belonged
to a member of the Fox family and is now preserved in the Library of Con-
way Hall, London. It seems that both the identification in Richard Garnett's
Life of W. J. Fox and in the copy of the Monthly Repository in the British
Museum, which has served F. E. Mineka's study The Dissidence of Dissent
(Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina Press, 1944), also derive from
this source. Apart from a brief review of a book on Australia (Robert Dawson,
The Present State of Australia, whose author was probably a relative of

288

NOTES

Mrs. Taylor's), which appeared already in the issue for January 1 83 1 (vol. V,
pp. 58-9), and the contributions mentioned in the text and fully listed by
Mineka, that key also ascribes to Mrs. John Taylor, but with a '?', two articles
signed 'Theta' in vol. VIII (1834), namely one on 'Female Education and
Occupation' (pp. 489-98) and one 'On Tithes' (pp. 525-9). These attribu-
tions seem very doubtful, however, and the note on tithes at least is almost
certainly by Mill, even though in a letter to Fox of February 1834 (King's
College, Cambridge) he wrote, with reference to an earlier note on the same
subject, 'You will have received today from her, the note on Tithe'.

19 Monthly Repository (second series), vol. VI, 1 8 3 2, p. 354.

20 Ibid., p. 402.

21 'Some Memorial of John Hampden, his Party and his Times. By Lord
Nugent', ibid., pp. 443-9; 'Mirabeau's Letters during his Residence in
England', ibid., pp. 605-8, and 'The Mysticism of Plato or Sincerity rested
upon Reality', ibid., pp. 645-6.

22 Erroneously ascribed by Mrs. Taylor to Sarah Austin.
%i Ibid., p. 762.

2iIbid.,V. 827.

25 See the letter of J. S. M. to W. J. Fox, of 3 April 1832, in the Library
of King's College, Cambridge, and reprinted in R. Garnett's Life of W. J.
Fox, p. 100.

26 Monthly Repository (second series), vol. VI, 1832, pp. 649-59, reprinted
in Four Dialogues of Plato. Translation and Notes by John Stuart Mill, edited
by Ruth Borchardt (London, Watts & Co, 1946), pp. 28-40.

21 Monthly Repository (second series), vol. VII, 1833, pp. 262-70, re-
printed in D.D., vol. I, p. 63, and in Early Essays by John Stuart Mill,
edited by J. W. M. Gibbs (London, George Bell & Sons, 1 897), pp. 201-20.

28 Thomas Carlyle, after meeting Mill for the second time on 1 2 Septem-
ber 1 83 1, had described him as 'a fine clear enthusiast, who will one day come
to something, yet nothing poetical, I think: his fancy is not rich' (J. A. Froude,
Thomas Carlyle, The First Forty Tears, vol. II, p. 200). J. A. Roebuck simi-
larly wrote of Mill that 'in reality he never had poetical emotions and the
lessons of his early childhood had chilled his heart and deadened his spirit to
all the magnificent influences of poetry' (R. E. Leader, Life and Letters of
J. J. Roebuck,?. 38).

29 Autobiography, p. 126.

30 The following unpublished passage from the early draft of the Auto-
biography in the library of the late Professor Jacob Hollander is produced from
notes taken some years ago by Mr. A. W. Levi when the manuscript was still
accessible. I am especially indebted to Mr. Levi for putting these notes at my
disposal.

31 T. Gomperz, John Stuart Mill: Ein Nachruf (Vienna, 1 889), p. 44.

J.S.M. 289 u

NOTES

32 W. Minto in John Stuart Mill; Notices of his Life and Work (London,

1873)* P- 33-

33 See the letter by J. S. M. to W. J. Fox of 1 9 May 1 8 3 3 in the Library of
King's College, Cambridge.

34 See the letter of J. S. M. to W. J. Fox of June 1833 in the same collec-
tion.

35 The copy of Pauline containing Mill's notes came later into the posses-
sion of John Forster and with his library reached the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, where it is now preserved in the Forster and Dyce Collec-
tion (pressmark 48.D.46).

36 J. S. M.to W. J. Fox, 10 October 183 3, in the Library of King's College,
Cambridge.

37 W. H. Griffin and H. C. M. Minchin, The Life of Robert Browning
(1938), p. 59.

38 'Two Kinds of Poetry' in Monthly Repository for November 1833, re-
printed D.D., vol. I, p. 77, and in Early Essays by John Stuart Mill, ed.
J. W. M. Gibbs (1897), pp. 221-6.

39 'Tennyson's Poems' in the London Review (July 1835), reprinted in
Early Essays, pp. 239-67.

40 King's College, Cambridge.

41 King's College, Cambridge, undated, probably June 1833.

42 MTColl. II/324, watermarked '1831'. Where dated letters by Mrs.
Taylor are on paper with a dated watermark, the years usually agree or are at
least not more than a year apart, and though this letter is not likely to be of
1 83 1 it may well be of 1832.

43 MTColl. II/316. The second sheet is torn off, and the conclusion given
after the dots follows on the margin after a few words concluding a sentence
from the missing part.

44 Letters (ed. Elliot), I, p. 61.

45 Ibid., pp. 62-3

46 MTColl. L/4.

47 There is in MTColl. II/321 also an undated fragment of a note by
Mrs. Taylor expressing a similar idea and probably of about the same time: 'I
on the contrary never did either "write or speak or look as I felt at the instant"
to you. I have always suffered an instinctive dread that mine might be a foreign
language to you. But the future must amend this, as well as many other things.'

48 King's College, Cambridge.

49 Page torn.

50 Yale University Library. The English postmark is dated 7 November

1833-

51 Page torn.

62 Yale University Library.

290

NOTES

53 Yale University Library. The beginning of the letter, dealing with other
matters, is not reproduced.

54 Mrs. Taylor's brother.

55 Dated 26 November 1833 and partly published in Richard Garnett, The
Life of W. J. Fox, p. 151.

56 J. S. M. to Thomas Carlyle, 25 November 1833. Letters (ed. Elliot),
vol. I, pp. 71-80.

57 H. Gomperz, Theodor Gomperz,, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, vol. I
(Vienna, 1936), p. 233.

58 For some time during the 1830's she appears to have taken a house in
Kingston-on-Thames, before about 1839 she moved to Walton-on-Thames,
where she lived during most of the next ten years.

CHAPTER III. ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

1 Autobiography, pp. 206—7, footnote.

2 MTColl. XLI/i.

3 Chastity, sexual intercourse with affection. Prostitution, sexual intercourse
without affection. (J. S. M.'s footnote).

4 MTColl., Box HI/79, on paper watermarked '1832'. An earlier draft on
part of the same on paper watermarked '1831', ibid., Box III/17.

CHAPTER IV. FRIENDS AND GOSSIP

1 R. E. Leader, Life and Letters of J. A. Roebuck (London, 1897), p. 38.
The party at the Bullers may well have been the soiree given on 1 5 June 1835,
mentioned in Letters and Memorials of J. W. Carlyle (ed. J. A. Froude, 1893),
vol. I, p. 2 1. It cannot have been before 1835, since it was only at the begin-
ning of that year that the Bullers came to live in London. There exists a letter by
Roebuck to Helen Taylor dated 23 August 1873 (MTColl. VIII/28) which
confirms Roebuck's printed account of his alienation from Mill as not due, as
Mill suggests in the Autobiography (p. 127), to mere differences of their views
on the respective merits of Byron and Wordsworth.

2 J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, The First Forty Tears, vol. II, p. 430.

3 J. A. Froude, ibid., vol. II, p. 441.

4 Manuscript letter in the National Library of Scotland, incompletely
published in Letters of Thomas Carlyle (ed. C. E. Norton, 1888), vol. II,
p. 200.

5 J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, The First Forty Tears, vol. II, p. 448, and
Letters of Thomas Carlyle 1826-1836 (ed. Norton), vol. II, p. 207. See also

291

NOTES

Carlyle's entry in his Journal on 12 August 1834 (the day of the dinner)
quoted in Reminiscences (ed. Norton), vol. I, p. 1 14, note.

6 There had been preliminary discussions about the creation of a new
Radical Review, which in the following year led to the establishment of the
London (later London and Westminster) Review.

7 J. A. Froude, Thomas Car/y/e, The First Forty Tears, vol. II, p. 466.

8 Manuscript letter in National Library of Scodand, incompletely published
in Letters of Thomas Car/y/e 1826-18 36 (ed. Norton), vol. II, p. 240.

9 'Glar', mud or any moist sticky substance.

10 New Letters and 'Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle (ed. A. Carlyle, 1903),
vol. I, p. 49, also J. A. Froude, Carlyle's Life In London (new edition), vol. I,
p. 24.

11 Letters of Thomas Carlyle 1826-18 36, vol. II, p. 283-4. On 16 Febru-
ary, the day before the party, Mrs. Carlyle had written to Dr. John Carlyle:
'We are going tomorrow to Mrs. [Taylor's] whom I should like that you
knew, and could tell me whether to fall desperately in love with or no' (J. A.
Froude, Carlyle's Life in London (new edition), vol. I, p. 26).

12 'Hotches' = fidgets.

13 C. G. Duffy, Conversations with Carlyle (1892), p. 169. The contem-
porary account of the episode given by Carlyle in his Journal {Reminiscences,
ed. Norton, vol. I, p. 106) makes no mention of this.

14 See particularly Carlyle's account in Letters of Charles Eliot Norton (ed.
S. Norton and M. A. de Wolfe Howe, London, 19 13), vol. I, p. 496, and
Alfred H. Guernsay, Thomas Carlyle (London, 1879), pp. 86-7.

15 Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 109, letter dated 9 March 1835.

16 National Library of Scotland, published in Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I,
p. 10. See also the letter by Mill's sister Harriet written to Carlyle shordy after
Mill's death (Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M.) in which she states that 'as far as my
recollection goes, the misfortune arose from my brother's own inadvertence
in having given your papers among waste paper for kitchen use', p. 107.

17 See Carlyle's letter to Mill of 30 October 1835, promising to call at Kent
Terrace, in Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 1 19.

18 Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences (ed. Norton), vol. I, p. 104.

19 Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle (ed. Froude), vol. I,

P-57-

20 J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, A History of his Life in London (1884),
vol. I, p. 74. James Mill had died on 23 June, Carlyle's visit took place on
1 6-1 8 July, and Mill left for France on 30 July.

21 'Scrae', Dumfriesshire dialect for 'an old shoe'.

22 New Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle (ed. Alexander
Carlyle, London, 1903), vol. I, p. 60.

23 Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., pp. 197-8.

292

NOTES

24 Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 136. Horace Grant (1800-59), Mill's
junior colleague in the Examiner's office at India House, 1 826-45.

25 National Library of Scotland, incompletely published in New Letters of
Thomas Carlyle (ed. Alexander Carlyle, 1904), vol. I, p. 53, and part of the
missing passage by J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, A History of his Life in
London, vol. I, p. 108, tacked on to a letter of different date.

26 See New Letters of Thomas Carlyle (ed. Alexander Carlyle, 1904), vol. I,
pp. 116 and 133 (letters dated 9 March and 18 July 1838), and in Life in
London, vol. I, pp. 142-3 (letter dated 27 July 1838).

27 See Thomas Carlyle, Life of John Sterling (1 8 5 1), in Works, p. 221.

28 Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 165.

29 Ibid., pp. 225-6. Cf. also Sterling's reply, dated 30 September 1839,
given by A. K. Tuell, John Sterling (New York, 1941), p. 70: 'Yesterday's
post brought a pleasant letter from Mill along with yours. But he says no word
of that miserable matter you hint at. I think it is a good sign of a man that he
feels strongly that kind of temptation, but a far better one that he both feels
it and conquers it, which I trust that Mill has done and will do.'

30 See the letters in MTColl. XXVIII/149-5 1, to her husband, the first of
27 July 1839, announcing her return, apparently from Brighton, to Wilton
Place, the others of October addressed to her husband at that address.

31 Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 174.

32 MTColl. XXVII/2.

33 Letters to T. C. to J. S. M., p. 179, letter of J. S. M. to T. Carlyle of
24 February 1841, and ofT. Carlyle to Mrs. Taylor of 7 March 1841.

34 The visit took place on 18 and 19 July 1841. See Helen Taylor's Diary
in MTColl. XLV and Letters ofC. E. Norton (ed. G. Norton and M. A. de
Wolfe Howe, London, 191 3), vol. I, p. 498.

35 This copy of Past and Present is now with the remnants of Mill's library
in Somerville College, Oxford. — According to Carlyle's account Mill's 'great
attachment' to him 'lasted about ten years, and then suddenly ended, I never
knew how' {Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle, ed. J. A. Froude,
vol. I, p. 2).

36 Letters ofC. E. Norton, vol. I, p. 499.

37 In 1 848, however, Mill sent to Carlyle a presentation copy of the Political
Economy (F. Espinasse, Literary Recollections (London, 1893), p. 218).

38 C. G. Duffy, Conversations with Carlyle (1892), p. 169.

39 Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, vol. I, pp. 499-500. The name in square
brackets is omitted in the printed version and has been kindly supplied by the
Librarian of the Houghton Library, Harvard University, where C. E.
Norton's papers and his diary are now preserved.

40 Janet Ross, Three Generations of English Women (new revised and
enlarged edition, 1893), p. 432.

293

NOTES

41 See below, p. 129.

42 Janet Ross, The Fourth Generation (London, 191 2), p. 73-4.

CHAPTER V. THE YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

1 MTColl. L/5. The date is given only on typed envelope of later date,
probably by Mary Taylor.

2 King's College, Cambridge.

3 King's College, Cambridge.

4 Yale University Library.

6 MTColl. XXVIII/235, on paper watermarked '1833'.

6 MTColl. H/323.

7 MTColl. L/7, on two sheets watermarked '1835'.

8 MTColl. L/6, watermarked '1835'.

9 Continuation missing. Another note of Harriet Taylor's of uncertain date
but probably of the same period in MTColl. II/3 17 may be given at least.

1 H. T. to y. S. M. Yes dear I will meet you, somewhere between this and
Southend — the hour will depend on what your note says to-morrow (that is
supposing the chaise is to be had of which there is very little doubt.)

'bless you dearest! I did not write yesterday. I wish I had for you seem to
have expected it. I have been quite well & quite happy since that delicious
evening & I may perhaps see the to-day, but if not I shall not be disappointed
— as for sad I feel since that evening as tho' I shall never be that again.

'I am very well in all respects, but more especially in spirits.

'bless thee — to-morrow will be delightful & I am looking to it as a very great
treat.

'so dear — if you do notmeet me on [?] road from Southend you willknow I
could not have the chaise.

'Friday.'

10 King's College, Cambridge.

11 A. Bain, J. S.Mill, p. 43.

12 A. Bain, J. S.Mi//,V. 163.

13 Thomas Falconer (1805-82).

14 New Letters of Thomas Car/y/e (ed. A. Carlyle, 1904), vol. I, p. 2.

15 MTColl. XLVII/3.

16 Herbert Taylor, who was only a year or two George Mill's junior. This
acquaintance led to a lasting friendship between George Mill and the two
Taylor boys.

17 A. Bain, John Stuart Mill, p. 44.

18 Ibid.

19 See the letter of Henry and John Stuart Mill to their mother and sisters,
postmarked Paris, 4 November 1836, MTColl. XLVII/4.

20 A. Bain, ibid., p. 44.

294

NOTES

21 Jane Welsh Carlyle to John Sterling, January-February 1 842, in Letters
and Memorials of J ane Welsh Carlyle (ed. J.A.Froude, 1893), vol. I, p. 138.

22 T. Carlyle, Reminiscences (ed. Norton), vol. I, p. no.
23MTColl.XXVIII/i35.

24 Angelo Usiglio, a refugee from Modena and intimate friend of Mazzini.

25 The first issue of the London and Westminster Review brought out by
John Robertson (c. 1810-75) had been that for July 1837. An article on
Italian Literature since 1 830, signed 'A. U.',appeared in theissue for October
of that year, an article on Paolo Sarpi, signed 'J- M.', in April 1838 and an
article on 'Prince Napoleon Bonaparte', signed 'J. M.', in December 1838. In
Mill's identification of the articles in the copy given to Caroline Fox and
reproduced in the 1883 edition of her Memories of Old Friends (pp. 102-4,
note) all three articles are ascribed to Mazzini, but here Mill's memory must
have been at fault, since there is also a reference to the article by Usiglio in one
of the letters written by Mill to John Robertson referred to below. See also
Mazzini's letter to his mother of 15 September 1837 in Epistolario di
Guisuppe Mazzini (Imola, 19 12), vol. II, p. 85

26 Morning Chronicle, 22 September 1837, which refers to the expulsion
from Greece of a refugee Emile Usiglio, who had arrived in Athens as an
emissary of Mazzini to form a branch of 'Young Europe'.

27 See the letters by Mill to John Robertson written from that tour in
G. D. M. Towers, 'John Stuart Mill and the London and Westminster
Review ', Atlantic Monthly, vol. LXIX, 1892.

28 MTColl. XXVIII/238, watermarked '1837'.

29 MTColl. XXVIII/234, watermarked '1838'.

30 A. Bain, John Stuart Mill, p. 44, quotes a letter of Henry Mill of
17 January 1839, who writes: 'As to John's health, none of us believe that it
is anything very serious; our means of judging are his looks when he was here,
and also what we have heard from Dr. Arnott. We are told, however, that his
sending him away is because his pains in the chest, which are the symptoms,
make it seem that a winter in Italy just now will afFord him sensible and
permanent benefit for the whole of his life.'

31 E. G. Wakefield to W. Molesworth, 27 November 1838: 'Our noble
friend Mill is ordered to Malta. His lungs are not organically diseased but will
if he remains here. He thought till the other day that his disease was mortal,
but yet he fagged away at the Durham case as if he had expected to live for
ever' (A. J. Harrop, The Amazing Career of Edward Gibbon Wakefield
(London, 1928), p. 109).

In his Autobiography (p. 211) Mill calls his illness of 1854-5 the 'first
attack of the family disease', and his letters of that period show that he himself
then thought it was a first attack. But he certainly must have been aware at the
earlier date that he was threatened by it. Caroline Fox {Memories of Old

295

NOTES

Friends (new and revised edition, 1883), pp. 97-8) records an interesting
conversation with Mill when he was in Falmouth in the spring of 1840
attending his brother Henry, who was dying of consumption: 'On consump-
tion, and why it was so connected with what is beautiful and interesting in
nature. The disease itself brings the mind as well as the constitution into a
state of prematurity, and this reciprocally preys on the body. After an expres-
sive pause, John Mill quiedy said "I expect to die of consumption".'

32 Letter by John Taylor to Messrs. G. H. Gower of Leghorn, 19 Decem-
ber 1838, MTColl. XXIX/271.

33 Mrs. Taylor's itinerary can be reconstructed in great detail from her
passport in MTColl. Box III.

34 Carlyle was also told by Mrs. Buller that Mill was going to Malta and
promptiy passed this on to John Sterling (T. Carlyle to John Sterling,
7 December 1838, in Letters ofT. C. to J. S. M., p. 217).

35 MTColl. XLVII/6.

36 A letter to John Robertson (V. 1810-75), editor of the London and West-
minster Review on the affairs of the Review, printed in G. D. M. Towers,
'John Stuart Mill and the London and Westminster Review'', Atlantic
Monthly, vol. LXIX, 1892.

37 MTColl. XXVIII/146.

38 MTColl. XXVIII/147.

39 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 45.

40 A. Bain, J. S.Mill, p. 45.

41 MTColl. Box II.

42 MTColl. XLVII/7.

43 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 164.

44 King's College, Cambridge.

45 MTColl. XXVIII/152. The letter is dated in a later hand 'April 28,
1 840', presumably from a cover now lost.

46 A reference to this accident in Mill's letter to W. E. Hickson of 4 March
1859 *n the Huntington Library. It occurred probably early in May 1842,
when according to Helen Taylor's diary Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were thrown out
of a carriage. Mrs. Taylor was certainly very ill during the following months.

47 See Mary Taylor in Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. XLIII.

48 MTColl. XLV.

49 On 6 June 1 844 Mill wrote in an unpublished letter to J. M. Kemble
that he was 'going out of town for some weeks', and on 14 August to the same
that he had 'just returned'.

60 Lettres inedites de John Stuart Mill a August e Comte, (ed. L. Levy-
Bruhl, Paris, 1899), p. 296.

61 Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 74. Bain's notes on the correspondence, dated 1844,
are in MTColl. XLVII/8.

296

NOTES

62 MTColl. II/3 27, continued on second sheet in Box III/103.

53 Probably Mill's letter of 30 October 1 843, in which he extensively suras
up his position on the Women question, or his letter of 8 December 1843, with
which he breaks off that discussion.

54 MTColl. XXVIII/233. The letter is marked in pencil in another hand
'1845?', but this is probably too late, since it suggests that Mrs. Taylor's boys
were still children while in 1845 'Herby' would have been eighteen. It may
well be about 1 840 or even earlier.

55 Mrs. Taylor's brother.

56 Probably the membership card of the Zoological Society, admitting to
the Zoological Gardens within a few minutes' walk of the Taylors' house.

CHAPTER SIX. A JOINT PRODUCTION

1 Autobiography, pp. 207-10. The whole passage is too long to quote in full,
but I think it could be shown that in it Mill attributes to Mrs. Taylor's influ-
ence ideas which he demonstrably owes to the Saint-Simonians and Comte.

2 MacMinn, et. al., Bibliography, pp. 59 and 69.

3 Autobiography, p. 199.

4 Autograph letter in possession of Mrs. Vera Eichelbaum, Wellington,
New Zealand, quoted with her kind permission.

5 MTColl. XXVIII/170.

6 MTColl. XXVIII/174; Sir John Easthope, Bt, 1784-1865, was succes-
sively M.P. for St. Albans, Banbury and Leicester, and since 1834 proprietor
of the Morning Chronicle.

7 Probably Charles Farebrother, a member of the Vintner's Company and
Alderman from 1826 until his death in 1858.

8MTColl.XXVIII/i78.
9MTColl.XXVIII/i79.

10 Political Economy and the Philosophy of Government; a series of essays
selected from the Works ofM. de Sismondi: with a Historical Notice of his Life
and Writings (London, 1847).

11 MTColl. XXVIII/i 80.

12 The dedication was repeated in a limited number of gift copies of the
second edition of the Political Economy (1849), but omitted in the third,
which appeared in 1853 after Harriet Taylor had become Mrs. Mill, be-
cause, as she explains in a letter to her brother Arthur Hardy, 'it would have
been no longer appropriate' (MTColl. XXVII/50, dated 7 September 1856).

13 MTColl. XXVII/40.

14 Continuation missing.

15 King's College, Cambridge.

16 MTColl. L/8.

297

NOTES

17 According to the Parliamentary report in the Daily News of 24 July
1848, which presumably Mrs. Taylor had read, W. J. Fox had said in the
debate in the House of Commons on the 'Suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act (Ireland)' on 22 July 'that the sooner the bill was passed into law the
better. He would do all in his power to aid the government in carrying it at
once'.

18 Eire Evans Crowe (1 799-1 868) from 1846 to 185 1 editor of the Daily
News.

19 The Reasoner, A Weekly Journal, Utilitarian, Republican and Com-
munist, edited by G. J. Holyoake, was at that time running a series of long
extracts from Mill's Political Economy, which it thought at the price of
£1 ioj. to be beyond the reach of most of its readers. The passage quoted
from The Reasoner later in the letter has not been traced and probably
occurred in a much earlier issue.

20 In a report of their Paris correspondent on the debate of the Constituent
Assembly on the Constitution in the Daily News of 24 July 1 848 (third edi-
tion, p. 3) it was stated that 'the only event which signalized the day was the
effrontery of M. Proudhon, who moved a resolution in the 4th bureau, that
the fiction, as he regards it, of the acknowledgement of the existence of God,
with which the preamble opens, should be erased. This proposition was of
course rejected without one dissentient vote.'

21 If the correct reading of this name is 'Trench', which is not quite certain,
the reference is presumably to Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-86), Arch-
bishop of Dublin. He does not appear to have published a work in two
volumes and the comment therefore must refer to two distinct books of his.

22 The following paragraph is on a separate sheet but seems to form a post-
script to the preceding letter, although the passage quoted from Hume has not
been traced in the newspapers of these days.

23 MTColl. II/322.

24 In a letter from their Paris correspondent in the Daily News of 27 July
1848, on the debate of the French Assembly on the proposed Law of the
Clubs, it was said that 'much amusement was produced by the ardour with
which M. Flocon assailed the clause of the measure which interdicted the
presence or participation of females in the debates'.

25 This may refer to Mill's unheaded article on French Affairs in the Daily
News of 9 August 1848; no earlier article is traceable and no such further
article on the position of women as suggested by Mrs. Taylor seems to have
appeared.

28 This may refer to the article in the Daily News on 9 August, referred to
before. No other article is listed in MacMinn, et al., Bibliography.

27 Frances d'Arusmont, ne'e Wright (1795-18 52), a Scotswoman who had
helped to start the Women's movement in America. She had been to England

298

NOTES

in 1847 when Holyoake got into trouble for publishing, apparently without
permission, a lecture of hers in the Reasoner,

28 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 90.

29 MTColl. XXVIII/199.
30MTColl.XXVIII/2O3.
31MTColl.XXVIII/2i7.

32 MTColl. XXVIII/219-327 and XXVII/109.

33 In Yale University Library.

34 Andre-Michel Guerry (1 802-66), French statistician, author of an Essai
sur la statistique morale de la France (Paris, 1833), which contains probably
the identical maps to which Mill refers and from which the author concludes
that 'les departments ou l'instruction est a moins repandus sont ceux ou il se
commet le plus des crimes'. He published later a larger work: Statistique
morale de FAngleterre comparie avec delle de La France (Paris, 1 864).

35 Lieut.-Col. William Henry Sykes, F.R.S. (1790-1872), naturalist and
soldier, one of the founders of the Royal Statistical Society, a Director of the
East India Company since 1840 and Chairman of its Court of Directors in
1856.

36 F. P. G. Guizot, De la democratic en France {Janvier 1849) (Paris,
1849).

37 The first two volumes of T. B. Macaulay's History of England, which had
appeared in December 1848.

38MTColl.XLVII/u.

39 Probably George Henry Lewes (1817-78).

40 Autobiography, p. 198-9. Cf. also the paragraph added to the Preface of
the second edition of the Political Economy. 'The additions and alterations in
the present edition are generally of little moment; but the increased import-
ance which the Socialist controversy has assumed since this work was written,
had made it desirable to enlarge the chapter which treats of it; the more so, as
the objections therein stated to the specific schemes propounded by some
Socialists have been erroneously understood as a general condemnation of all
that is commonly included under that name. A full appreciation of Socialism,
and of the questions which it raises, can only be advantageously attempted in a
separate work.'

41 Yale University Library.

42 The passages on pp. 247-8 of vol. I of the first edition of the Political
Economy which were deleted run as follows: 'Those who have never known
freedom from anxiety as to the means of subsistence, are apt to overrate what is
gained for positive enjoyment by the mere absence of that uncertainty. The
necessaries of life, when they have always been secure for the whole of life, are
scarcely more a subject of consciousness or a source of happiness than the
elements, [p. 248] There is little attractive in the monotonous routine, with-

299

NOTES

out vicissitudes, but without excitement; a life spent in the enforced observance
of an external rule, and performance of a prescribed task: in which labour
would be devoid of its chief sweetener, the thought that every effort tells per-
ceptibly on the labourer's own interests or those of some one with whom he
identifies himself; in which no one could by his own exertions improve his
conditions, or that of the objects of his private affections; in which no one's
way of life, occupations, or movements, would depend on choice, but each
would be the slave of all.'

The whole of this passage has been replaced in the second edition by the
much more sympathetic account on pp. 254-6 which begins: 'On the Com-
munistic scheme, supposing it to be successful, there would be an end to all
anxiety concerning the means of subsistence; and this would be much gained
for human happiness.'

43 See the passage from the first edition quoted in the preceding footnote; it
must have been suggested by Mrs. Taylor when the first edition was written.

44 Nothing in the chapter as it stands in the second edition seems to corre-
spond to this sentence, but it may well have been an earlier draft of the last
paragraph which begins (p. 265): 'We are as yet too ignorant either of what
individual agency in its best form, or socialism in its best form, can accomplish,
to be qualified to decide which of the two will be the ultimate form of society.'
This replaces the paragraph in the first edition (p. 254) which relegates the
'proper sphere for collective action' to 'the things which cannot be done by
individual agency' and which argues that 'where individual agency is at all
suitable, it is almost always the most suitable'.

45 First edition, p. 250: 'I believe that the conditions of the operatives in a
well-regulated manufactory, with a great reduction in the hours of labour and
a considerable variety of the kinds of it, is very much like what the conditions
of all would be in a Socialist Community. I believe the majority would not
exert themselves for anything beyond this, and that unless they did, nobody
else would; and that on this basis human life would settle itself in one invari-
able round.' In spite of what Mill said above, the second sentence of this was
omitted entirely in the second edition (p. 257), while the word 'Owenite' was
substituted for 'Socialist' in the first sentence.

46 W. E. Hickson, then editor of the Westminster Review, where the
article on 'Lord Brougham and the French Revolution' appeared.

47 Yale University Library.

48 Principles of Political Economy (second edition), vol. I, pp. 102-6.

49 A 'political and socialist journal' started in Paris the year before to advo-
cate the rights of all women.

50 Probably a first attempt at what two years later became the article on
'The Enfranchisement of Women'.

51 Major- General Sir Archibald Galloway (1780?-! 8 50) and John

300

NOTES

Shepherd, in 1 849 Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the East India Com-
pany respectively.

62 The rest of the last line, about five or six words, has been cut away.

53MTColl.XXVIII/22 5.

54MTColl.XXVII/ioc..

55 Mill's review of volumes V and VI of George Grote's History of Greece
appeared in the Spectator for 3 and 10 March 1 849 (vol. XII, pp. 202-3 anc^
227-8).

56 Yale University Library.

57 W. J. Fox, Lectures Addressed Chiefly to the Working Classes, vol. IV
(London, 1849), p. xix-xx. The paragraphs quoted there from the Political
Economy are taken from vol. II, pp. 525 and 526 of the first edition.

58 Ralph Waldo Emerson's lecture on England, delivered before the Boston
Mercantile Library Association on 27 December 1848, was reported at con-
siderable length in The Times of 14 March 1 849. According to this report, 'he
spoke of the steady balance of the qualities of their nature as their great charac-
teristic, and the secret of their success. Everything in England betokens life.
. . . The English surpass all others in general culture — none are so harmoni-
ously developed. They are quick to perceive any meanness in an individual.
And it is reasonable that they should have all those fastidious views which
wealth and power are wont to generate.'

59 James Anthony Froude, The Nemesis of Faith, 1849. The brother men-
tioned was Richard Hurrell Froude.

60 The Spectator of 10 March 1849, which contained the second part of
Mill's review of G. Grote's History of Greece.

61 J. A. Froude had been chosen for the post by the professors of University
College, London, but as a result of the attacks of the newspapers was asked to
withdraw, and withdrew.

62 What is left of this page reads: 'the old way, & . . . has the advantage of
taking . . . Toulouse, but I suspect the means of conveyance by it are much
slower & more precarious, till we reach Bourges or Chateuroux where we join
the railway. I think from what has been in the papers that the whole or nearly
the whole of the . . .'

63 Yale University Library. The date of the letter itself is missing with its
beginning, but as the English postmark of the cover probably belonging to it
seems to be 18 March, its date is probably 16 or 17 March.

64 In his review of volumes V and VI of George Grote's History of Greece
in the Spectator for 3 and 10 March 1849, in the conclusion of which he had
said (p. 228): 'If there was any means by which Grecian independence and
liberty could have been made a permanent thing it would have been by the
prolongation for some generations more of the organization of the larger half
of Greece under the supremacy of Athens; a supremacy imposed, indeed, and

301

NOTES

upheld by force — but the mildest, the most civilizing, and, in its permanent
influence on the destinies of human kind, the most brilliant and valuable, of all
the usurped powers known to history.'

65 Henry Fleming (d. 1876), Assistant Secretary of the Poor Law Board
from its creation in 1849 and Secretary for many years from i860. Since he
had been introduced there by Charles Buller, who was the first Chairman of
the Poor Law Board, it would seem probable that Mill knew him through the
Buller circle.

68 Yale University Library.

67 See above, p. 128.

68 Mrs. Charles Buller, the mother of Mill's friend Charles Buller, had died
on 13 March 1849, within ten months of the death of her husband (17 May
1848) and her eldest son Charles (29 September 1848).

69 The incomplete sentence left of the first page appears to deal merely with
the weather of the preceding days.

70 Political Economy (first edition), vol. I, p. 441: 'Is it not to this hour the
favourite recommendation for any parochial office bestowed by popular elec-
tion, to have a large family and to be unable to maintain them? Do not the
candidates placard their intemperance on walls, and publish it through the
town in circulars?' In the second edition, p. 457, the change mentioned in
the text is made and the following footnote added which presumably contains
the two sentences contributed by Mrs. Taylor: 'Little improvement can be ex-
pected in morality until the producing large families is regarded with the same
feelings as overfondness for wine or any other physical excess. But while the
aristocracy and clergy are foremost to set the example of incontinence, what
can be expected from the poor?'

71 Mill's proposal, developed in the series of articles in the Morning
Chronicle in the winter of 1846/7, advocating the creation of peasant proper-
ties on the waste lands in Ireland.

72 Probably V. P. Considerant, he Socialism devant le vieux monde, ou, le
vivant devant les morts (Paris, 1 848).

73 The following paragraph begins on a new sheet of a different shape from
that on which the preceding part of the letter is written and it is merely
probable that it continues the same letter.

74 See above, p. 142.

75 This club was founded, as the 'Anonymous Club', by John Sterling in
July 1838, a little more than six years before his death. See Sterling's letter,
dated 14 July 1838, in which he informs Mill of the formation of the club, in
A. K. Tuell, John Sterling, p. 366, and T. Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling,
part II, chapter VI, where a list of the original members is reproduced. The
newspaper attacks on the Sterling Club were started by the Record on 8 March
1849, and continued throughout the year.

302

NOTES

76 Julius C. Hare had in 1848 published a memoir of the life of John
Sterling as an introduction to the collected edition of the latter's Essays and
Tales.

"John Pringle Nichol, F.R.S., 1804-59, smce ^36 Professor of
Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, contributor to the London and
Westminster Review during Mill's editorship when he was in regular corre-
spondence with Mill. No book of his on America seems to have appeared.

78MTColl.XXVIII/227.

79 MTColl. XXVIII/229.

CHAPTER VII. JOHN TAYLOR'S ILLNESS AND DEATH

I MTColl. L/9-37. From this point onwards and through the rest of the
volume only selected passages from the correspondence are reproduced.

2MTColl.L/i6.
3MTColl.L/i7.

4 MTColl. L/28.

5 MTColl. L/30.
• MTColl. L/i 8.
7MTColl.L/i2.
8 MTColl. L/27.
9MTColl.L/2 5.

10 MTColl. L/28. A sheet in J. S. M.'s hand, docketed by him 'Extracts
from letters of Sterling respecting me', is in MTColl. XLIX/2 1, but does not
contain any of the passages complained of below.

II MTColl. L/3 1.

12 MacMinn, et a/., Bibliography, p. 71. The article appeared in the Daily
News for 14 July 1 849.

13 MTColl. L/3 2.

14 MTColl. L/3 4.

15 MTColl. L/36.

16 MTColl. L/37.

CHAPTER VIII. MARRIAGE AND BREAK WITH
MILL'S FAMILY

1 MTColl. L/3 9. The only evidence for assigning an approximate date to
this letter is the identity of the notepaper with that of the following.

2 MTColl. L/3 8.

3 The two Ohio Conventions took place at Salem on 19 and 20 April 1850
and at Acron on 28 and 29 May 1 8 5 1 .

303

NOTES

4 William Lloyd Garrison (1805-79), Wendell Phillips (18 11-84) anc*
Frederick Douglas (1817-95).

5 At the time of publication the article appears generally to have been
believed to be by Mill, and Charlotte Bronte refers to it as such in a letter
dated as early as 20 September 1851, quoted in Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Char-
lotte Bronte, (Everyman edition, p. 344). Mill commented upon it in a letter,
presumably to Mrs. Gaskell, saying: 'I am not the author of the article I may
claim to be its editor: and I should be proud to be identified with every
thought, every sentiment and every expression in it. The writer is a woman, of
the largest and most genial sympathies, and the most forgetful of herself in her
generous zeal to do honour to others, whom I have ever known' {The Brontes:
Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, The Shakespeare Head Bronte,
ed. T. J. Wise and J. A. Symington, Oxford, 1932, vol. Ill, p. 278).

6 Manuscript in Huntington Library. See also the further letters to Hick-
son dated 1 o and 1 9 March 1 8 5 1 , and of 1 9 March 1 8 5 o, in the same collec-
tion. W. E. Hickson (1803-70) had taken over the Westminster Review from
Mill in June 1840.

7 Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. 158, giving also a facsimile reproduction.

8 Draft of letter to Wilhelmina King, MTColl. XLVII/i 5, letter to Jane
Ferraboschi, Yale University Library.

9 See George Mill's letter to Mrs. Mill, quoted below, p. 175, and the
quotation from J. S. Mill's letter given in A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 93.

10 Page torn.

11 Harriet I. Mill to the Rev. J. Crompton, 26 October 1873, at King's
College, Cambridge.

12 In a letter of about the same time (in Yale University Library, dated
27 July 18 51) in which Mill's old friend and former colleague at India
House, Horace Grant, congratulates him somewhat belatedly on his 'marriage
with an amiable woman capable of understanding and appreciating your
exertions', he also reports that 'some time ago I saw Mary & her children &
thought she looked well and happy. Her exertions in the ragged schools some-
what surprized me, — as she used to be rather timid: but I dare say that the
apparition of a beautiful female among a set of young thieves & vagabonds
accustomed only to be cufFed about by their superiors, must have been quite
that of a ministering angel, & productive of great good.'

13 MTColl. XLVII/18. Docketed in Mill's hand: 'Mary— a reply
August 14, 1 85 1. Her rejoinder August 30.' These have not been preserved.

14 The daughter of Mill's eldest sister, Wilhemina King.

15 MTColl. XLVII/4.

16 The address of the firm David Taylor & Sons.

17 Draft in MTColl. XLVII/5, dated as above and endorsed in same hand
'copied July 16 1851'.

304

NOTES

18 D..°.ft in MTColl. XLVII/20. There is also another even more violent
and r.tbably earlier draft, ibid., XLVII/45.

19 MTColl, XLVII/21.
?0 MTColl. XLVII/22.
21 MTColl. XLVII/24.
22MTColl.XLVII/2 3.

CHAPTER IX. ILLNESS

1 Letters of Charles Eliot Norton (ed. S. Norton and M. A. de Wolfe
Howe, London, 191 3), vol. I, p. 330.

2 See Lord Ashburton's letter to Mill in Yale University Library:

'Bath House/May 26, 5 i/My dear Mill/I have promised Lady Ashburton
to write to you, & I execute my promise most readily, for I should be sorry
that you had reason to think, that we could overlook the occurrence in your
life, which must add so much.

'We rejoice at it also on our account. We hope to gain by the change as well
as yourself. We feel sure that you will live no longer for your books alone, that
you will allow some human sympathies to have access to your thought.

'It is possible that you may then be forced to remember that there were
once certain friends, who thought that they had a hold over you, who thought
themselves as necessary to you as you are to them.

'Now these friends, no wise daunted by former ill success, are very anxious
to gain over Mrs. Mill to their side, and I must say that it would be most unfair
if you did not give them an early opportunity of doing so. We will therefore
allow you no subterfuge of any kind, no means of escape from this your
destiny.

'It is written that on some day this month, or an early of next, you will
either tell us where we may call on Mrs. Mill, or you will appoint a time when
you will bring Mrs. Mill to call here. Hear and obey. The fates have willed
it./Yours Ashburton.'

3 See John Chapman's Diary in Gordon S. Haight, George Eliot and John
Chapman (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1940), p. 169-70, under the
date of 24 May 1 8 5 1 : 'Mrs Hennell says that the lady he [Mill] has just mar-
ried was a widow, her husband having been dead for a year and a half, that
during the life of her former husband a "violent friendship" arose between her
and him which caused him to think it desirable to go to the Continent, wither
she, it is said, followed him; and now (in consequence of these circumstances
she presumes) Mrs. Thornton Hunt declines to visit Mr. & Mrs. Mill.'

4 Political Club, Minutes and Proceedings, vol. VI (Centenary Volume,
London, Macmillan, 192 1), pp. 65-8, from which it appears that Mill

J.s.M. 305 x

NOTES

opened the discussion at six of the twenty meetings of the Club held in the
years 1851-3.

5 MTColl. LI.

6 Algernon Taylor, Memories of a Student (2nd edition enlarged, London,
Simpkin Marshall, 1895 — a first edition had been printed for private circula-
tion only), p. 10. Algernon Taylor adds that after Mill's death 'a musical
paper — the "Musical Standard" if I remember right — drew attention to his
considerable if little known, musical taste and capacity'. Later in the same
volume (p. 233) mention is made of the fact that Mill also played chess well.

7 MacMinn, et al., Bibliography, p. 76.

8 Remarks on Mr. Fitzroy's Bill for the more effectual Prevention of Assaults
on Women and Children. Privately printed 1853. See MacMinn, et a/., Biblio-
graphy, p. 79.

9 Four of these letters, dated 26, 29, 31 August and September 18 53, are in
Yale University Library and one, undated but probably of 27 August, in
MTColl. II/305. All the letters by Mill to his wife quoted in this chapter are
in Yale University Library.

10 Described earlier as 'the big physiology'.

11 Evidently the essay on 'Nature' published posthumously in 1 874 as part
of the volume Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism, but in 1 8 5 3 intended
to form part of a volume of essays on which Mill was working and out of which
ultimately On Liberty, Utilitarianism and perhaps some other of his later
works grew.

12 The review of volumes 9-1 1 of G. Grote's History of Greece on which
Mill had spent much time during the summer in which it appeared in the
Edinburgh Review for October.

13 George Cornewall Lewis (1806-63), editor of the Edinburgh Review
from 1852 to 1855.

14 Page torn by seal.

15 The youngest brother, George, actually had died a few months before in
Madeira, by his own hand, thereby anticipating but a little the termination of
the disease for which he had vainly sought a cure.

16 Russell Ellice was then chairman of the Court of Directors and David
Hill and W. T. Thornton (1813-80) officials of the East India Company, as
was also Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866), the novelist, who from 1836 to
1856 was head of the Examiner's Department, in which post Mill succeeded
him.

17 J. S. Mill's younger brother, recendy returned from India.

18 William George Prescott, George Grote's partner in the banking firm of
Prescott, Grote & Co., and one of the three original members of the Utili-
tarian Society.

19 Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. II, pp. 357-86.

306

NOTES

20 'Parliamentary Purification' in Edinburgh Review, vol. XCVIII/200,
pp. 566-624, presumably by William Rathbone Greg (1809-81), who in the
preceding years had regularly written for this Review on similar subjects.

21 This letter to Lord Monteagle, dated 20 March 1853, and acknowledg-
ing his pamphlet on the Representation of Minorities, is printed in Letters (ed.
Elliot), vol. I, p. 173.

22 Probably the pamphlet Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform, published
only in 1859, but according to Bain, J. S. Mill (p. 103), written some years
previously.

23 Among the correspondence Mill had found on his return was a request
from John Chapman, then the editor of the Westminster Review, that Mill
should review Harriet Martineau's abridged translation of Comte's Positive
Philosophy published by John Chapman in 1853.

24 Sir James Clark, Bt., F.R.S. (1788-1870), physician in ordinary to
Queen Victoria.

25 MTColl. L(i). This is a pencilled note, very faded, and some of the
readings are uncertain. It is numbered 15, while Mill's letter to which it
replies is his 14th.

26 The Utility of Religion became the tide of the second essay contained in
the posthumous volume on Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism (1 874).
According to Helen Taylor's Introduction to the volume it was, with the
essay on Nature, written about this time.

27 A review of Letters of Rachel Lady Russell (ed. J. R. [Earl Russell], Lon-
don, 1853), in the Examiner of 4 February 1854, pp. 68-9.

28 7, 13 and 1 5 February, and 6 March.

29 28 February.

30 This letter of G. O. Trevelyan, dated 8 March 1 854, and two later ones,
with the draft of Mill's replies, are in the 'Hutzler Collection of Economic
Classics' in Johns Hopkins University.

31 See also Trevelyan's letters to Mill, dated 11 and 24 May 1854, in
MTColl. I/27-8.

32 Frederick James Furnival (18 2 5-19 10).

33 J. S. M. to H. M., 4 February 1 8 54. The letter in which he grants per-
mission, dated 1 3 February, is printed in Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. 177.

34 J. S. M. to H.M., 14 March 1854.

36 The contemplated reprint of this chapter cannot now be traced and it is
doubtful whether it ever appeared. The translations of the French passages
were later used in the Popular edition of Political Economy, and the additions
appear all in the 4th edition of 1857. The 'saving clause' inserted at Mrs.
Mill's suggestion is evidently the sentence put in square brackets in the follow-
ing passage as it appears on p. 350 of the 4th edition but not contained in the
draft of the passage sent by Mill to his wife: 'One of the most discreditable

307

NOTES

indications of a low moral condition given of late by the English working
classes is the opposition to piece work. [When the payment per piece is not
sufficiently high, that is a just ground for objection.] But dislike of piece work,
except under mistaken notions, must be dislike to justice or fairness, a desire to
cheat, by not giving work in proportion to the pay. Piece work is the perfec-
tion of contract: and contract, in all work, and in the most minute detail — the
principle of so much pay for so much service carried to the utmost extremity —
is the system, of all others, in the present state of society, most favourable to the
worker, though most unfavourable to the non-worker who wishes to be paid
for being idle.'

36 J. S. M. to H. M., 8 April 1 8 54.

37 Francis Hopkins Ramadge, M.D. (1 793-1 867), senior physician to the
infirmary for asthma and consumption and other diseases of the lung, had in
1834 published a book Consumption Curable which went into many editions
and was translated into several foreign languages.

38 J. S. M. to H. M., 8 April 1 8 54.

39 J. S. M. to H. M., 5 April 1854.

40 The original of this letter to Mill by his mother is in the MTColl.
XLVII/24. It begins: '4 Westbourne Park Villas/29 March/My dear John/I
am sorry that you did not tell me whether you had got rid of your cough, I am
afraid from that you have not. As to myself . . .' and continues as quoted by
Mill. It is signed 'Your Affectte Mother/H. Mill' and has the following
postscript: 'James's address is/Ullaport/North Britain/The next time you
write will you tell me what pension he has got?'

Of John Mill's letter to his brother James for which the mother supplied
the address, a torn-off last page is in MTColl. XLVII/25, postmarked
3 1 March 1854. After an incomplete sentence about somebody's health it con-
tinues: 'I do not know how far you take interest in passing events. The time is
very near when the new arrangements for the India Act will come into opera-
tion. For my part, except the throwing open the civil service to competition,
all the changes appear to me to be for the worse. It is the most faulty piece of
work these ministers have turned out — whom otherwise I prefer to any
ministers England has yet had./yrs afP/J. S. Mill.'

41 The eldest of Mill's sisters, who was living in Germany.

42 These notes are in MTColl. XLVII/28, 29. One may be reproduced
here:

'Clara E. Mill to J. S. M.: 4, Westbourne Park Villas, April io./Dear
John/In case you should not otherwise be aware of it, I think it right to tell
you that my poor Mother is very seriously ill. The doctors have pronounced
her complaint to be tumour of the liver, I don't think they apprehend any
immediate danger, but they do not conceal the fact that at any age it would be
a very serious affair, and in her case there is no doubt that her strength is

308

NOTES

decreasing. Sir James Clark saw her some 10 days ago & Mr. Quain (32
Cavendish Square) saw her on Saturday & comes twice a week at least — from
either of these you can of course get any information you may wish./My
Mother does not know that I am writing./C. E. Mill.'

43 J. S. M. to H. M., St. Malo, 14 June 1 8 54.

44MTColl.XLVII/32.

45 Draft in MTColl. XLVII/31. The last paragraph first ran: 'If you shd
have occasion to write to me do it to my house at Blackheath and my wife
will forward it. My wife sends her best wishes & regrets that her health had
made it impossible for her to call on you as she much wished to have done' and
the last seven words replaced first by 'would otherwise have done long before
this' and then by 'much wished to have done' and finally replaced by the
paragraph in the text.

46 All these letters are in Yale University Library.

47 Later incorporated into Utilitarianism. Bain {J. S. Mill, p. 112) refers
to a letter which suggested to him that Utilitarianism was written in 1854,
but from the letters here quoted it seems more likely that the essays written
then, though used in the composition of Utilitarianism, were not yet planned
as a book under that title.

48 Probably the Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform, published five years
later.

49MTColl.XLVII/38.

CHAPTER X. ITALY AND SICILY

1 Mrs. Mill at the time, it seems, was suffering from some other complaint
in addition to her lung trouble. On 30 October 1855 she wrote to her brother
Arthur in Australia (MTColl. XXVII/48): 'I have been so reduced in
strength since my bad illness in 1853 when I broke a blood vessel in the lung
and was not expected to recover for some months, and since that I have twice
undergone a surgical operation, that I have seldom had strength to write more
than a few lines at a time.'

2 All the letters by Mill from which passages are quoted in this and the next
chapter are in Yale University Library.

3 So described in a letter to August Comte on 12 August 1842. See Lettres
Inidites de John Stuart Mill a Auguste Comte (Paris, 1 899), p. 94.

4 Apparently a letter by the Queen to Mr. Sidney Herbert, reprinted in
The Times of 5 January 1855: 'Windsor Castle, Dec. 6, 1 8 54. Would you tell
Mrs. Herbert that I begged she would let me see frequently the accounts she
receives from Miss Nightingale or Mrs. Bracebridge, as / hear no details of the
wounded, tho' I see so many from officers, &c, about the battie-field, and
naturally the former must interest me more than any one.

309

NOTES

'Let Mrs. Herbert also know that I wish Miss Nightingale and the Ladies
would tell these poor noble and sick men that no one takes a warmer interest,
or feels more for their sufferings, or admires their courage and heroism more
than their Queen. Day and night she thinks of her beloved troups. So does the
Prince.

'Beg Mrs. Herbert to communicate these my words to those ladies, as I
know that our sympathy is much valued by these noble fellows.

'Victoria.'

5 Frederic Lucas, M.P., born 1812, barrister and convert to Catholicism,
and friend of Carlyle, since 1 840 editor of The Tablet. He returned to London
in May 1855 and died there in the autumn of the same year. According to his
biographer 'he latterly gave much time to the study of political economy, and
took a special interest in the social theories of John Stuart Mill'. In 1 8 5 1 Lucas
and Charles Gavan Duffy had asked Mill on behalf of the Council of the
Tenant League to stand for Parliament for an Irish constituency. See
Autobiography, p. 237, and Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, p. 159, the Life of
Frederic Lucas, M.P. by his brother Edward Lucas, 2 vols. (London, 1886),
especially vol. II, pp. 122 and 126, and C. G. Duffy, Conversations with Car-
lyle, p. 166.

6 Probably Abraham Hayward.

7 The younger Lady Duff Gordon would have been Lucy, the daughter of
Sarah Austin.

8 Compare Mill's account of the conception of the book On Liberty in the
Autobiography, p. 212: 'I had first planned and written it as a short essay in
1854. It was in mounting the steps of the Capitol, in January, 1855, that the
thought first arose of converting it into a volume.'

9 Father Kyne, a catholic priest who had accompanied Frederick Lucas to
Rome.

10 Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet, succeeded by Lord Palmerston's first ministry,
after a motion for a committee of inquiry into the mismanagement of
the Crimean expedition had been passed on 29 January by 305 to 148
votes.

11 Edward Lucas in the biography of his brother recounts that he had 'fre-
quently heard Father Kyne, himself a man of considerable information dilate
upon the conversation, discussion and casual remarks of the two men [Mill and
Lucas] which he said eclipsed all that he had ever heard in the way of con-
versation' {The Life of Frederic Lucas, M.P., by his brother Edward Lucas
(London, 1886), vol. II, p. 126).

12 See Report from the Select Committee for the Savings of the Middle and
Working Classes, Parliamentary Papers, 1850, vol. XIX, especially Mill's
answers to questions 839, 847-51, 879-80, 906 and 913.

13 The British Consul at Palermo.

310

NOTES

14 Goethe, who in 1787 had in the course of his Italian journey made a tour
of Sicily rather similar to Mill's, was thirty-seven at that time.

15 George Finlay (1799—1875), historian and author of a History of Greece,
had taken part in the Greek war of independence and been acquainted with
Lord Byron.

16 Sir Thomas Wyse (1791-1892), since 1849 British Minister to Athens
and earlier Secretary of the Board of Control for India.

CHAPTER XI. GREECE

1 J. S. M. to H. M., Corfu, 10 April 1855. All the letters by Mill repro-
duced in this chapter are in Yale University Library.

2 Sir H. Ward, the Lord High Commissioner for the Ionian Islands.

3 Sir J. Young.

4 Joseph Hume, the Radical politician, had died on 20 February 1855.

5 On the resignation of W. E. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer
and two other ministers, Sir George Cornewall Lewis had become Chancellor
and R. V. Smith President of the Board of Control.

6 Colonel Wodehouse, Resident in Ithaca.

7 A.D.C. to the High Commissioner.

8 Henry Reeve (1813-95), who for fifteen years had been foreign editor of
The Times and in 1855, when on becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer
G. C. Lewis relinquished the post, succeeded him as editor of the Edinburgh
Review, a post which he held until his death forty years later.

9 MTColl. XXVII/46. This is a copy of the concluding part of the letter
with the evidently erroneous date 'March 1855' added later.

10 The Irish botanist whose acquaintance Mill had made at Corfu.

11 The sous-prefet of Yerochori, to whom they had had an introduction.

12 Christopher Wordsworth (Bishop of Lincoln), Greece, pictorial, descrip-
tive and historical,with upwards of three hundred and fifty engravings by Copley,
Fielding etc. (London, 1839). A new edition of this work had appeared in

1853-

13 Mill did visit Greece again after Mrs. Mill's death and in 1862 spent
some months with Helen Taylor there and in Constantinople.

14 The English doctor in Florence whom he had consulted.

CHAPTER XII. LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF
MRS. MILL

1 Yale University Library.

2 MTColl. LI/i.

3 MTColl. LI and LII.

311

NOTES

4 One from York, evidently of 14 February, in MTColl. LII/125, and
seven from London, probably of 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 February, in
Yale University Library.

5 Yale University Library.

6 Yale University Library.

7 If this refers, as seems probable, to Book I, chapter VIII, § 5 of the Politi-
cal Economy, which had been considerably revised in the previous (third)
edition, no further change appears to have been made on this occasion.

8 Yale University Library. The following undated fragment, also in Yale
University Library, probably belongs to the same period. It is on a single sheet
which has apparently been deliberately mutilated by the lower part having
been cut away, and the text of the two sides is in consequence not consecutive
nor is it possible to say which part comes first.

lJ. S. M. to H. T., February 1857(f): if you did but know with what joy I
would leave everything & live all my life in Australia if you cannot be in health
anywhere else how dreadful it would be if from considerations relating to me
that were left undone till it were useless.

'O my beloved have pity on me & save that precious life which is the only
life there is for me in this world — '

[Beginning of second page:] 'so needed, so longed to be with you — & always
with you — as when you are ill. it is true I am pained by the sense of my own
helplessness & uselessness in mechanical matters when they are so much
needed, but your perfect love can do what . . .'

9 Four letters by Mill to his wife, of 13, 16, 18 and 19 September, are in
the Yale University Library. There is only the one letter by Mrs. Mill
referred to in the next footnote.

10 MTColl. XXVIII/240.

11 H. M. to her mother, 4 December 1857, MTColl. XXVII/83.

12 J. S. Mill's letters from Matlock 1 1 and 1 2 July, Edensor 1 3 July, and
Bakewell 1 5 July 1858, are in the Yale University Library, and Mrs. Mill's
letters of 12 and 13 July in MTColl. XXVIII/236 and 237.

13 A letter posted at Matlock Sunday evening delivered at Blackheath the
next morning!

14 Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (later Lord Lytton) (1803-73), the novelist
who shortly before had become Secretary for the Colonies in Lord Derby's
second Cabinet.

15 MTColl. LIII/(i) 1-29, for Mrs. Mill's letters from the journey to
Helen Taylor with Helen Taylor's replies; also Mrs. Mill's letter to Algernon
Taylor, Paris, 15 October 1858, MTColl. XXVII/119.

16 Yale University Library. In a letter which appeared in the Literary
Guide of 1 July 1907, Mary Taylor stated that she held a letter of Mill to
Dr. Gurney offering him a fee of £1,000 for attending his wife. This would

312

NOTES

suggest that the doctor first refused to come, which is contradicted by the
correspondence. Miss Taylor, however, was in a special position to know since
Dr. Gurney was her uncle — her father, Algernon Taylor, had married Dr.
Gurney's sister in i860.

17 Yale University Library. The punctuation, mostly lacking in the original,
has been interpolated.

18 Yale University Library. Helen Taylor's reply in MTColl. LIII(i)/20.

19 A. Bain, J. S. Mill, p. 102. The announcement of Mrs. Mill's death,
which Mill sent to Thornton with this letter, appeared in The Times of
13 November 1858.

20 Jules Veran, 'Le Souvenir de Stuart Mill a Avignon', Revue des Deux
Monde s, 1 September 1937, p. 216.

21 Draft in Yale University Library. Compare also the letters to George
Grote of 28 November 1858, and to Pasquale Villari of 6 and 28 March
1859, in Letters (ed. Elliot), vol. I, pp. 213, 216 and 217.

22 In MTColl. XLI/i 1 there are several successive drafts of this inscription
in Mill's hand, three of which give the date of Mrs. Mill's birth wrongly as
8 October 1808 (instead of 1807), in one instance substituting this for an
earlier '1806'.

23 Alexander Bain to Helen Taylor, 13 September 1873, MTColl. IV/17.
In an earlier letter (6 September 1873, MTColl. IV/15) Bain had also un-
successfully urged Helen Taylor to omit some of the more extravagant
passages of Mill's praise of his wife. Although so far as the passages referring
to herself were concerned, Helen Taylor at least in part followed Bain's
advice; she left instructions that the complete manuscript was 'to be published
without alterations or omissions within one year after my death'. These
instructions were not carried out and complete publication had to wait until
the 1924 edition quoted in the note 25.

24 The following description by an American visitor of Mill's relation to
Helen Taylor towards the end of his life is of interest in this connexion:

iC. E. Norton to Chauncey Wright, 13 September 1870: I doubt whether
Mill's interest in the cause of woman is serviceable to him as a thinker. It has a
tendency to develop the sentimental part of his intelligence, which is of
immense force, and has only been kept in due subjection by his respect for his
own reason. This respect diminishes under the powerful influence of his
daughter, Miss Taylor, who is an admirable personage doubtiess, but is what,
were she of the sex that she regards as inferior, would be called decidedly
priggish. Her self-confidence, which embraces her confidence in Mill, is
tremenduous, and Mill is overpowered by it. Her words have an oracular
value for him, — something more than their just weight; and her unconscious
flattery, joined with the very direct flattery of many other prominent leaders
of the great female army, have a not unnatural effect on his tender, susceptible

3J3

NOTES

and sympathetic nature. In putting the case so strongly I perhaps define it with
too great a force, but you can make the needful allowance for the over-
distinctness of words' {Letters of Charles Eliot Norton (London, 191 3), vol. I,
p. 400).

^Autobiography of John Stuart Mill, published for the first time without
alterations or omissions from the original manuscript in the possession of
Columbia University with a preface by John Jacob Coss, New York, Colum-
bia University Press, 1924. The passage quoted occurs on pp. 184-5.

APPENDICES

1 MTColl., Box III/206, and other drafts of the same poem, ibid., 204, 207
and 208, the last dated 1828.

2 Monthly Repository (new series), vol. VI, p. 617.

8 Monthly Repository (new series), vol. VI, 1832 (September).

4 MTColl., Box III/78, on pages watermarked '1832'.

5 A gap left in the manuscript for one word later to be filled in.

ADDENDUM

Jane Welsh Carlyle : A New Selection of Her Letters, arranged by Trudy
Bliss (London, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1950), which appeared when the present
volume was in proof, not only contains a few further relevant passages from
Mrs. Carlyle's correspondence (especially pp. 60, 82, and 125) but also
makes it probable that the voluminous Carlyle correspondence at Edinburgh
may contain still more information about Mill and Mrs. Taylor.

On Mill's writings on poetry see now also J. R. Hainds, 'J. S. Mill's
Examiner Articles on Art', Journal of the History of Ideas, April 1950,
vol. XI, no. 2.

Index

Aberdeen, Lord, 310

Achmet Aga, 238 f.

Adams, Sarah Flower, 26 f., 87, 92, 95

Adams, W. B., 28

Alexander, occulist, 150

America, 150, 166

Ashburton, Lady, 90

Ashburton, Lord, 182, 305

Association, 136

Athenians, 143, 229, 301

Athens, 235 ff., 24.2 f.

Austin, John, 82, 89, 129, 132, 156

Austin, Sarah, 40, 80, 82, 89 f., 129, 289

Australia, 131, 312

Austria, 138, 142, 249

Autobiography, 136°., 17, 27, 290°., 33,
116 f., 134, 190 f., 194, 196 f., 200,
268, 283 f., 287, 291, 295, 299, 310,

Avignon, 20, 106, 186, 213, 261-7

Bagneres, 151

Bain, A., 36, 101, 111, 114, 182, 268, 283,

287, 294 ff., 298, 307, 313
Ballot, 187 f., 208
Balzac, H., 225

Baring, Harriet, see Ashburton, Lady
Bastide, J., 38 f., 288
Belgium, in, 182
Bentham, J., 30, 185
Bentham, Sir Samuel, 213
Beziers, 213
Bion, 230
Birksgate, 23, 130
Blackheath Park, 20, 182
Blackpool, 255
Blanc, L., 136, 141
Bliss, T., 314
Bontemps, G., 37, 288
Bordeaux, 131, 213
Boulogne, 106, 186, 212, 252
Bowen (Colonial Secretary), 232 ff.
Bowring, Sir John, 29

Bracebridge, Mrs., 309

Brest, 208

Bright, J., 209

Brighton, 101, no, 119

British Quarterly Review 176

Brittany, 207-1 1

Brougham, Lord, 129, 141

Browning, R., 42 f., 290

Buchez, 136

Buller, Charles, 79 f., 82, 89, 302

Buller, Mrs., 79, 146, 296, 302

Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edward, 259, 312

Butler, Col., 234

Byron, Lord, 36, 42

Cabet, E., 136

Califomian gold discoveries, 139

Carcassone, 213

Carlisle, Lord, 235

Carlyle, Alexander, 82

Carlyle, Dr. John, 80, 86, 292

Carlyle, Jane W., 79-89, 314

Carlyle, Margaret, 81

Carlyle, Thomas, 13 f., 24, 29, 33, 36, 46,

55> 59» 79~89> IOI» IXI> H9» lSh

156 f., 287
Catania, 227
Cauterets, 151
Cavaingnac, G., 89, 103
Cavaingnac, H., 103
Chadwick, E., 288
Chapman, H. S., 118
Chapman, J., 188 f., 202, 287
Chatham, Lord, 222
Christian Socialists, 202
Church and State Gazette, 149
Church Music, 113, 216
Cefalonia, 233 f.
Civil Service, 200 ff.
Clarendon, Lord, 217
Clark, Sir James, 150, 193, 195, 203,

205 ff., 307, 309
Coleridge, S. T., 33, 42

3*5

INDEX

Colman, Charles, 171, 206, 304

Colman, Mary, 171 ff., 206, 304

Combe, 138

Communism, 134-7, x45

Competition, 202

Comte, A., 35, 1136°., 188 f., 216, 257.

296 f., 307, 309
Considerant, V. P., 136, 302
Constantinos, 245
Conway, M., 33, 284
Corfu, 232-5, 247
Corporal punishment, 159
Cox, C. M., 285
Crawley, F. E., 39, 288
Crimean War, 220 ff., 246
Crompton, J., 33, 286
Crowe, E. E., 125 f., 144, 146, 298
Cullen, Archbishop, 216 f.
Cunningham, 30

Daily Neivs, 120, 126 ff., 144, 146, 159 f.,

298, 303
Dante, 227, 230
D'Arusmont, Frances, 128, 298
Davies, Paulina Wright, 15
Deakin, Dr., 216, 220
Dedication (of Political Economy), 14, 120 ff.,

124, 163
Delarne, Mrs., 164
Delphi, 242

'Derry', see Mill, Henry
Desainteville, B. E., 37, 39, 288
Diary, J. S. M.'s, 187, 189, 192, 198, 203 f.

Helen Taylor's, 1 12 f.
Dijon, 261
Dissertations and Discussions, 14 f., 226, 266,

283
Divorce, 57-78, 82
Douglas, F., 166
Dreams, J. S. M.'s, 247, 253 f.
Duff Gordon, Janet, 89
Duff Gordon, Lady, 215
Duffy, C. G., 88, 284, 287, 292 f., 310
Dumont, E. 185
Duncan (bookseller), 119
Durham, Lord, 103, 295
Dussard, H., 38 f., 288

East India Company, see India House
East India House, see India House
Easthope, Sir J., 119, 297

Edinburgh Magazine (Tait's), 42
Edinburgh Review, 36, 155, 187, 209, 235,

306 f., 311
Education, 30, 33, 63, 65 ff., yj, 145, 148
Eichthal, A. d', 33
Ellice, Russell, 186, 306
Elliot, G., 163

Elliot, H. S. R., 18, 20, 168, 283
Emerson, R. W., 142
'Enfranchisement of Women', 14, 167 f.,

170 f., 203
England, 166, 215
English character, 127, 135, 142, 238, 254,

301
English Churchman, 149
Espinasse, F., 293
Essays, Contemplated volume of, 185, 191,

205, 208, 216, 226
Essays on some Unsettled Questions of Political

Economy, 35, 199
Ethology, in
Etna, 224, 229
Euboea, 238 f.
Examiner, 43, 55, 83, 159, 196 f., 287

Falconer, T., 294

Family, 192

Feraboschi, Jane, 169, 304

Finlay, G., 230, 311

Fleas, 228, 245 f.

Fleming, H., 144, 301

Fletcher, G., 181

Flocon, 127, 298

Flogging, 159

Florence, 107 f., 247 f.

Flower, Eliza, 26 f., 29, 42, 54, 95, 284,

287
Flower, Sarah, see Adams, Sarah Flower
Fonblanque, A., 83
Fourier, F., 136, 148
Fourierism, 137, 148
Fox, Caroline, 30, 285, 295
Fox, Charles, 146
Fox, Eliza Bridell, 25, in, 122, 182, 284,

287
Fox, W. J., 15, 22, 24, 26, 36, 39 ff., 44 f.,

48, 54, 81 f., 92 f., 100, 114, 122 f.,

136, 141, 146, 182, 284, 287
France, 118, 123, 182, 213
French Revolution, 35, 208
French Revolution (by T. Carlyle), 83
Froude, J. A., 142, 149, 284, 291 f., 301

INDEX

Froude, R. H., 301
Furnival, F. J., 202 f., 307

Galignani, 230, 246

Galloway, Sir Archibald, 139, 300

Garnett, R., 288, 291

Garonne, 213

Garrison, W. L., 166

Gaskell, Mrs., 202, 304

Geneva, 101

Genoa, 213

Georgitzki, 244

German, 16, 112 f., 225

Germany, 108, no

Gillies, Margaret, 28, ill

Gillies, Mary, 28

Gladstone, W. E., 16, 311

Glasgow, 253 f.

Goethe, J. W., 28, 224 f., 311

Gomperz, T., 289, 291

Goodwin, 224

Graham, G. J., 36, 287

Grant, H., 86, 109, 288, 293, 304

Greece, 104, 232-47, 295, 311

Greeks, 238, 243

Greg, W. R., 187, 307

Grey, Lord, 221

Grote, George, 140, 184, 186 ff., 209, 301,

306
Grote, Mrs., 90, 186 ff.
Guerry, A. M., 132, 299
Guizot, F. P. G., 129, 132, 299
Gurney, Dr., 261-265, 312 f.

Hagberg, Knut, 18

Haight, G. S., 287, 305

Hainds, J. R., 314

'Haji', see Taylor, Algernon

Hamilton, 161

Hardy, Arthur, 113, 163, 235, 265, 297,

3°9
Hardy, Edward, 55
Hardy Family, Table of, 281
Hardy, Thomas, 23
Hare, J. C, 149, 303
Harrow, 146
Hayward, A., 215, 310
Hennell, Mrs., 305
Herbert, Mrs. Sidney, 309 f.
Hickson, W. E., 136, 167 f., 296, 300, 304
Hill, D., 186

History of Greece, Reviews of G. Grote's,

187, 301, 306
Hollander, J. H., 31, 286, 289
Holyoake, G. J., 125 f., 128, 156, 298 f.
Hume, J., 126, 233, 298, 311
Hunt, Leigh, 28
Hunt, Mrs. Thornton, 305
Hyeres, 186

India House, 33, 80, 88, 102, 138, 173,

176, 186, 189, 202, 255, 260
Ireland, 118, 128, 147, 216
Italy, 85 f., 102, 105 ff., 213-223

Jew Bill, 139, 144, 146
'Justice', Essay on, 207, 209
Jura, 251 f.

Kemble, J. M., 296

Keynes, Lord, 284

King, Clara, 173

King, Wilhelmina, 101, 169, 206, 286, 304,

308
Kingsley, C, 202
Kingston-on-Thames, 196, 291
Kyne, Father, 218 ff., 310

Lake District, English, 256
Lamartine, 138
Landor, W. S., 155
Langdale, Lady, 216
Le Pont (Jura), 251
L^gouve, 138
Leroux, P., 136
Levi, A. W., 285, 289
Lewes, G. H., 133, 299
Lewis, G. C, 185, 199, 233, 306, 311
Liberty, see On Liberty
Libourne, 213
Life, see Autobiography
'Lily', see Taylor, Helen
Limited liability, 222
Limoges, 209
Logic, see System of Logic
London and Westminster Review, see West-
minster Review
London Review, see Westminster Review
Lorient, 209
Love, 192
Lucas, E., 310
Lucas, F., 215, 217-21, 310

3*7

INDEX

Lugano, 250
Lyall, 216
Lyons, 186, 261

Macaulay, T. B., 35, 132, 223, 299

MacHale, 217

MacMinn, N., 288, 297 f., 306

Macropoulos, G., 238

Mallet, J. L., 286

Malta, 105, 296

Marriage, 57-78, 82, 169 f.

Marseilles, 106, 213

Marshall, 187

Martineau, Harriet, 28, 36, 89, III, 187 f.,

203, 307
Matlock, 258
Maurice, F. D., 149
Mazzini, G., 103 f., 295
Melcombe Regis, 169
Messina, 230, 237
Milan, 102, 249
Mill, Clara E., 101, 168, 172, 180 f., 206,

3°9

Mill Family, Table of, 280

Mill, George G., 33, 101 f., 113, 133, 136,

139, 141, 146, 155, 169, 174 ff., 286,

294, 304, 306
Mill, Harriet I., 101, 168, 171, 180, 207,

286, 292
Mill, Henry, 101 f., 109, 294
Mill, James, 13, 30, 33, 35, 84, 101, 209,

223, 286
Mill, James B., 100, 286, 296, 309
Mill, Jane S., see Feraboschi, Jane
Mill, Mary E., see Colman, Mary
Mill, Mrs. James, 31 f., 106, 108, 168,

173 f., 180 f., 187, 205 ff., 209, 286
Mill, Wilhelmina, see King, Wilhelmina
Mineka, E., 284, 288
Minto, W., 42, 290

Molesworth, Sir William, 103, 285, 295
Montauban, 151
Monteagle, Lord, 187
Monthly Repository, 26, 28, 37, 40 ff., 48

81, 284, 288 f., 314
Montpellier, 213
Morals, 192
Morlaix, 208
Morning Chronicle, 103, 118 ff., 183, 200,

295, 301
Moschus, 230
Munich, no

Murphy, 39

Mutiny, Indian, 255, 257 f.

Nantes, 210

Naples, 107 f., 220, 222 f.

Napoleon III, 138, 218

Nature, 161, 204

'Nature', Essay on, 185, 190 ff.

New Forest, 38

Neiv Monthly Revieiu, 155

Neio York Tribune, 166

Nice, 85, 185

Nichol, J. P., 159, 303

Niebuhr, B. G., 198, 217

Nightingale, F., 309

Nimes, 213

Noel, 238

Normandy, in

Northcote, Sir S., 200

Norton, C. E., 89, 287, 305, 313

Novalis, 214

Oates, 230

Oeta, 240 f.

O'Ferral, More, 218

Ohio Conventions on Women's Rights, 166

On Liberty, 14, 26, 192, 216, 221 f., 226,

266, 310
Orleans, 131, 151, 213
Owen, R., 74, 148, 300
Owenites, 136

Paintings, 42, 219 f., 248

Palermo, 223-7

Palmerston, Lord, 144, 208 f., 222, 310

Paris, 35, 49, 101, 106, 131, 151, 186, 206,

212, 250, 261
Parker (publisher), 140, 143, 149
Parnassus, 241 f.
Past and Present, 88, 293
Pau, 130 f., 139
Pauline, 42 f., 290
Peacock, T. L., 186, 306
Peel, R., 147
Peloponnesus, 242-6
Pentelicus, 236
Perry, botanist, 232, 237, 311
Phillips, Wendell, 166
Piano Playing, J. S. M.'s, 133, 182, 254
Pisa, 105, 107, 215
Place, F., 28
Plato, 39, 144, 192

318

INDEX

Poetry, 26, 41 ff., 48
Poland, 249

Political Economy, see Principles of Pol. Econ.
Political Economy Club, 182, 287, 305
Political Union, 39
Pope, Mr., 208, 210

Principles of Political Economy, 14, 16, 111,
118, 191, 198, 200, 298 ff., 301

2nd ed., 131, 133-138, 140 f., 144 ff.,
297, 300

3rd ed., 184, 297

4th ed., 254
Proudhon, P. J., 126, 134, 148, 298
Puseyism, 142

Quain, Mr., 206
Quarterly Review, 155
Quimper, 209

Raglan, Lord, 222

Ramadge, F. H., 205, 308

Rats, 88

Reasoner, 152, 298

Record, 149, 302

Reeve, H., 235, 311

Reform Bill (1832), 35

Reform Bill (1854), 201

Reform Club, 24

Religion, 192, 195 ff., 204, 208

Revell, Major, 39, 288

Revolution, The, of February, 141

Robertson, J., 103 f., 106, 108 f., 295 f.

Robin, 46

Robinson, H. Crabb, 28, 287

Rochefort, 210

Roebuck, J. A., 31, 36, 79 f., 285, 287, 289

Roman Republic, 138, 155 f.

Rome, 107, 215-20

Romilly, 156

Rouen, 21 1

Russell, Lord John, 139, 144, 222, 249

Russell, Rachel Lady, 196, 307

St. Helier, 207
St.Malo, 207

Saint Simonians, 33, 37, 297
Sand, George, 136
Sartor Resartus, 81
Scicca, 227
Scott, W., 35
Sculptures, 42, 216 f., 248
Seeker, magistrate, 159 f.

Settle, 257 f.

Shelley, 13, 26, 42, 145, 223

Sicily, 223

Sidmouth, 184 f.

Sienna, 215

Signature, J. S. M.'s, 169, 185

Sinnett, 140

Sismondi, J. C. de, 189, 192, 297

Sismondi, Madame de, 120

Slander, 192

Smith, Dr. Southwood, 29

Smith, R. V., 311

Socialism, 134-7, 148, 192, 208, 300

Solly, H., 32, 286

Sophocles, 230

Sorrento, 221 f.

Sotheby 8c Co., Messrs., 20.

Spectator, 140, 142, 209, 301

Stanmore, 146

Sterling, A., 157

Sterling Club, 149, 302

Sterling, J., 33 f., 84 ff., 142, 149, 153, 155,

157 f., 293 f., 302
Stirling, Fanny, 252, 261
Stylidha, 240
Stymphalus, 243
Sykes, W. H., 131, 189, 299
Syracuse, 228 f.
System of Logic, 16, 35, 111, 116, 191, 199

Tablet, The, 310

Taormina, 230

Tasso, T., 227

Tatoe, 237

Taygetus, 244

Taylor, Algernon, 25, 113, 116, 139, 155,

169, 173, 175 ff., 182 f., 196, 198,

251 f., 265, 306
Taylor, Caroline, 104
Taylor, David, 24
Taylor Family, Table of, 282
Taylor, George, 24
Taylor, Harriet, sen., 104
Taylor, Helen, 20, 25, 36, in, 152, 169,

173, 176, 182 f., 206, 251 ff., 255 f.,

260 ff., 268, 313
Taylor, Henry, 285
Taylor, Herbert, 24, 101, 113, 116, 136,

139, 162 ff., 182
Taylor, John, jun., 24, 37 f., 51 ff., 81,

87 f., 91, 103, inf., 119 ff., 130,

139, 150, 152-5, 161-4, 178, 284, 296

3J9

INDEX

Taylor, John, sen., 24

Taylor, Mary, 20 f., 23, 283, 294, 312

Taylor Mrs. P. A., 283

Tennyson, A., 44

Theocritus, 225, 227, 230

Thermopylae, 240 f.

Thirlwall, Bishop, 149

Thornton, W. T., 186, 263, 306

Thoughts on Parliamentary Reform, 200, 266,

307, 309
Times, The, 120, 136, 143, 147, 200, 215,

221 f.. 257, 259, 261, 301, 311, 313
Topolia, 240
Torquay, 212
Toulouse, 151, 213, 301
Towers, G. D. M., 295 f.
Trench, R. C, 125, 149, 298
Trent, no

Trevelyan, G. O., 200 ff., 307
Trevor, Miss, 252
Trollope, Mrs., 40
Tuell, A. K., 293, 302
Tyrol, 108, no

University of London, 24, 156
Usiglio, A., 103 f., 295
Usiglio, E., 104, 295
Utilitarian Society, 306
Utilitarianism, 29, 103, 309

Venice, 108

Veran, J., 313

Victoria, Queen, 159, 161, 203, 215, 309

Vurlia, 244

Wakefield, E. G. 295
Walton-on-Thames, 87 ff., Ill, 129, 164,

196, 291
Ward, Sir Henry, 233, 311
Watford, 146
West, A. S., 286
Westminster Review, 29, ior, 103, uof.,

144, 167, 183, 188,295, 303 f.
Weymouth, 169

'Whewell's Moral Philosophy', 183
Wilberforce, Bishop, 149
Wilson, Dr., 249
Windsor Park, 137
Wodehouse, Col., 234, 311
Women's Rights, 122, 166
Worcester, Mass., 166
Wordsworth, Christopher, 242, 311
Wordsworth, William, 42
Worthing, 129
Wright, Chauncey, 313
Wyse, Sir Thomas, 230, 235, 243, 311

Young, Sir J., 234, 311

Zanti, 233 f., 246

320

Date Due

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John Stuart Mill and Harriet T main
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